Systems and methods for non-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset of electronic devices

ABSTRACT

A system includes an electronic device and an auxiliary device for charging the electronic device and facilitating hardware shutdown/reset of the electronic device when the electronic device is being charged. The system includes an input user interface (e.g., on the auxiliary device or the electronic device) configured to receive a user input for hardware shutdown/reset of the electronic device. The electronic device includes a switch between a battery and a system load, a control circuit configured to open the switch to disconnect the battery and the system load, and a charging interface configured to receive electric power signals from the auxiliary device to power the control circuit, such that hardware shutdown/reset of the electronic device is performed when the electronic device is being charged, thereby preventing unintentional hardware shutdown/reset during normal use. In some embodiments, wireless control signals are used to initiate hardware shutdown/reset on the electronic device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. ProvisionalPat. Application No. 63/279,961, filed Nov. 16, 2021, entitled “SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR NON-CONTACT HARDWARE SHUTDOWN AND/OR RESET OF ELECTRONICDEVICES,” which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety forall purposes.

The following three U.S. patent applications (including this one) arebeing filed concurrently, and the entire disclosures of the otherapplications are herein incorporated by reference into this applicationfor all purposes:

-   Application 18/______, filed Nov. 14, 2022, entitled “SYSTEMS AND    METHODS FOR NON-CONTACT HARDWARE SHUTDOWN AND/OR RESET OF ELECTRONIC    DEVICES”;-   Application 18/______, filed Nov. 14, 2022, entitled “AUXILIARY    DEVICES AND METHODS FOR NON-CONTACT HARDWARE SHUTDOWN AND/OR RESET    OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES”; and-   Application 18/______, filed Nov. 14, 2022, entitled “ELECTRONIC    DEVICES AND METHODS FOR NON-CONTACT HARDWARE SHUTDOWN AND/OR RESET    OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES.”

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to electronic devices, and moreparticularly to systems and methods for non-contact hardware shutdownand/or reset of electronic devices with no on-board user interfacefeatures for hardware shutdown and/or reset.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices including embedded processors or other control units(e.g., central processing units, microprocessors, microcontrollers,etc.) may sometimes suffer from hardware and/or software anomalies thatcan impact the functionality of the electronic devices. For example,some anomalies may impact the processing, communication, and/or controlfunctionality of the control units, thereby disabling the recovery ofthe electronic devices from the anomalies using the control units. Inmany cases, the hardware and/or software anomalies may be cured byremoving and reapplying power to the electronic devices. In someelectronic devices, the removal and reapplication of power may betrivial, and may be performed by, for example, disconnection andreconnection of a power cord, removal and reinsertion of a battery, orappropriate operations on a user interface of the electronic devices.However, some electronic devices may not have easily accessiblebatteries or suitable user interface features for removal and/orreapplication of power.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset of electronic devices. The systems andmethods of the present disclosure may be particularly applicable for usewith battery-powered electronic devices without accessible batteries(e.g., due to hermetic sealing) or suitable on-board user interfacefeatures (e.g., due to limited size or for safety reasons) to facilitatethe removal and subsequent reapplication of power for the hardwareshutdown and/or reset. The systems and methods of the present disclosureenable non-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset independent of otherprocessing, communication, and component functionality of the electronicdevice, thus enabling shutdown and/or reset even if such processing,communication, and/or component functionality is impaired. Circuits forhardware shutdown and/or reset on the electronic device disclosed hereinmay be exclusively powered by a wireless charging device (rather than anon-device battery), and thus the hardware shutdown and/or reset may onlybe performed when the electronic device is being charged, such thataccidental, unintentional, or other inadvertent shutdown/reset of theelectronic device during normal use may be prevented.

According to certain embodiments, a system may include an auxiliarydevice and an electronic device. The auxiliary device may include acharging transmitter configured to transmit electric power signals, aninput user interface configured to receive a user input, a wirelesscontrol signal transmitter configured to transmit wireless controlsignals, and a microcontroller unit (MCU) configured to, in response tothe user input, enable the wireless control signal transmitter totransmit a wireless control signal. The electronic device may include abattery, a system load, a switch in an electrical connection pathbetween the battery and the system load, a non-contact sensor configuredto detect the wireless control signal, a control circuit configured toopen the switch to disconnect the battery and the system load inresponse to the detected wireless control signal, and a charginginterface configured to receive the electric power signals from theauxiliary device, where the control circuit and the non-contact sensorare powered through the charging interface rather than the battery.

According to certain embodiments, a method of non-contact hardwareshutdown and/or reset of an electronic device may include: enabling awireless charging transmitter of an auxiliary device to transmitwireless power signals to the electronic device; receiving a user inputat the auxiliary device; enabling, in response to the user input, awireless control signal transmitter of the auxiliary device to transmita wireless control signal for shutting down the electronic device;receiving, by the electronic device, the wireless control signal fromthe auxiliary device; opening, in response to receiving the wirelesscontrol signal and after a first time delay, a switch to disconnect asystem load of the electronic device from a battery of the electronicdevice; disabling the wireless charging transmitter after a second timedelay; and performing, by the auxiliary device based on the user input,signaling a user to remove the electronic device from the auxiliarydevice, or reenabling the wireless charging transmitter to transmit thewireless power signals to the electronic device to restart theelectronic device.

According to certain embodiments, a system may include an auxiliarydevice and an electronic device. The auxiliary device may include acharging transmitter configured to transmit electric power signals. Theelectronic device may include a battery, a system load, a switch in anelectrical connection path between the battery and the system load, aninput user interface configured to receive a user input, a controlcircuit configured to control the switch in response to receiving theuser input, and a charging interface configured to receive the electricpower signals from the auxiliary device, wherein the control circuit ispowered through the charging interface rather than the battery. Theelectronic device may be a first assembly of a medical device and mayinclude mechanical features complementary to mechanical features of asecond assembly of the medical device such that the electronic device isreleasably engageable with the second assembly of the medical device.The auxiliary device may include the mechanical features of the secondassembly of the medical device such that the auxiliary device isreleasably engageable with the electronic device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects and features of the present disclosure willbecome more apparent in view of the following detailed description whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein likereference numerals identify similar or identical elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a system including anelectronic device and an auxiliary device enabling non-contact hardwareshutdown and/or reset of the electronic device in accordance withcertain aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method ofnon-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset in accordance with certainaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a system including an electronic deviceand an auxiliary device enabling non-contact hardware shutdown and/orreset of the electronic device according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a system including an electronicdevice and an auxiliary device enabling non-contact hardware shutdownand/or reset of the electronic device according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates yet another example of a system including anelectronic device and an auxiliary device enabling non-contact hardwareshutdown and/or reset of the electronic device according to certainembodiments;

FIGS. 6A-6C include flow diagrams illustrating examples of non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset processes according to certainembodiments;

FIGS. 7A-7C include flow diagrams illustrating examples of non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset processes according to certainembodiments;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method ofnon-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset of an electronic deviceaccording to certain embodiments;

FIGS. 9A-9C are perspective review, exploded perspective views, and topview, respectively, of an example of a medical device according tocertain embodiments;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an example of a system including anelectronic device (e.g., a first assembly of the medical device of FIGS.9A-9C) and an auxiliary device according to certain embodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a system including an electronicdevice and an auxiliary device according to certain embodiments; and

FIG. 12 is block diagram of an example of an electronic device that mayimplement some of the examples disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure relates generally to techniques for non-contact hardwareshutdown and/or reset of electronic devices, such as battery-poweredelectronic devices that may have no easy access to batteries or suitableon-board user interface features for mechanically and/or electricallydisconnecting and/or reconnecting the system load to a power supply(e.g., a battery). Various inventive embodiments are described herein,including devices, systems, methods, structures, processes, and thelike.

An electronic device may sometimes suffer from hardware and/or softwareanomalies that may need to be cured by powering down and/or resetting(e.g., rebooting) the electronic device or at least a system load (e.g.,including a control unit such as a microcontroller, a processor, etc.)of the electronic device. For example, some anomalies may impact theprocessing, communication, or other functionality of the control unit,and thus the control unit may not be used to manage the shutdown orreset process. Therefore, to shut down or reset the electronic device,one may need to mechanically or electrically remove and/or reapply power(e.g., from a battery) to the electronic device or at least the controlunit. In some electronic devices, the removal and/or reapplication ofthe power may be performed by, for example, disconnection andreconnection of a power cord, removal and reinsertion of a battery, orappropriate operations using a user interface of the electronic device(e.g., a button, a switch, a touch screen, etc.). However, in someportable electronic devices, such as many wearable medical devices, thebatteries may not be easily accessible (e.g., due to hermetic sealing),and/or there may not be appropriate on-board user interface features(e.g., reset/shutdown button, switch, or touch screen) for manual resetor shutdown of the electronic device (e.g., due to limited size orsafety reasons, such as to avoid unintentional shutdown/reset).

According to certain embodiments, an electronic device without on-boarduser interface features for shutdown/reset may be powered down or resetusing an auxiliary device (e.g., a wireless charging device) that mayhave appropriate user interface feature(s) (e.g., button, switch, ortouch screen) for receiving user requests for shutdown or reset. Theauxiliary device, upon receiving user requests for shutdown or rest, maysend a wireless control signal for shutdown or reset to the electronicdevice that may be placed on or adjacent to the auxiliary device. Theauxiliary device may also include a wireless charging transmitter thatcan sent wireless power signals to the electronic device to power theelectronic device for shutdown, reset, and/or battery charging. Userrequests for reset or shutdown of the electronic device may bewirelessly communicated to the electronic device through, for example,infrared (IR) signals, magnetic signals, near-field communicationsignals, and the like, from the auxiliary device.

The electronic device may include a non-contact sensor (e.g., aninfrared receiver and/or demodulator, a Hall-effect detector, etc.) thatcan detect the wireless control signals transmitted by the auxiliarydevice. The non-contact sensor may be powered by the wireless chargingpower rather than the battery of the electronic device, and thus may beused even when the battery is disconnected. The electronic device mayalso include reset/shutdown control circuitry that is also powered bythe wireless charging power (rather than the battery) and is notcontrolled by the control unit(s) of the electronic device, and thus maybe used to control the shutdown and/or reset sequence even after thebattery is disconnected. The reset/shutdown control circuitry, uponreceiving the user requests for reset or shutdown from the non-contactsensor, may initiate and manage the shutdown and/or reset sequence ofthe electronic device. For example, the reset/shutdown control circuitrymay include a timing circuit that can control the delay before thedisconnection of the battery from the system load of the electronicdevice, the delay after the disconnection and before the reconnection ofbattery to the system load, and other timing of the shutdown and/orreset sequence.

In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may be able to distinguish thehardware reset request from the hardware shutdown request based on theuser input, but may send the same wireless signal to the electronicdevice to shut down the electronic device, and may then performdifferent operations for hardware shutdown and hardware reset after theelectronic device is shut down. For example, if the user requests ahardware shutdown of the electronic device, the auxiliary device maysignal the user to remove the electronic device after the shutdown. Ifthe user requests a hardware reset of the electronic device, theauxiliary device may charge the electronic device to restart theelectronic device after the shutdown. In some embodiments, differentwireless signals may be sent to the electronic device for the electronicdevice to distinguish a hardware reset request from a hardware shutdownrequest, and the electronic device may perform different operations forhardware reset and hardware shutdown. In some embodiments, the auxiliarydevice and/or the electronic device may include an output user interface(e.g., light emitting diodes) for indicating status (e.g., powered down,charging, after reset, etc.) of the auxiliary device and/or theelectronic device, such that users may engage or disengage theelectronic device and the auxiliary device at appropriate time.

Techniques disclosed herein enable time-controlled, non-contact hardwareshutdown and/or reset of an electronic device that may be independent ofthe processing, communication, or other functionality of the electronicdevice (e.g., functionality of control unit(s) of the electronicdevice), and thus can be used for hardware shutdown and/or reset ofelectronic devices that have no appropriate on-board user interfacefeatures for hardware shutdown and reset, even when the processing,communication, or other functionality of the electronic device isimpaired, and even when the battery of the electronic device isdisconnected. Techniques disclosed herein may be used in, for example,wearable medical devices that have no on-board user interface features(e.g., buttons or switches) for hardware shutdown or reset to avoidaccidental, unintentional reset or shutdown of the wearable medicaldevices, and/or other battery-powered portable devices that have noon-board user interface features for hardware shutdown or reset to shutdown the portable devices to save power or extend battery life when theportable devices are not in use. For example, as described above, thereset/shutdown control circuitry may be powered by the wireless chargingpower rather than the battery, and thus may not be functional when theelectronic device (e.g., a wearable medical device) is not charged, suchas during normal use (powered by the battery), such that accidental,unintentional, or any other inadvertent reset or shutdown of thewearable medical device can be avoided.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofexamples of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent that variousexamples may be practiced without these specific details. For example,devices, systems, structures, assemblies, methods, and other componentsmay be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscurethe examples in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-knowndevices, processes, systems, structures, and techniques may be shownwithout necessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the examples. Thefigures and description are not intended to be restrictive. The termsand expressions that have been employed in this disclosure are used asterms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention inthe use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents ofthe features shown and described or portions thereof. The word “example”is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as “example” isnot necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments or designs.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a system 100 including anelectronic device 120 and an auxiliary device 140 enabling non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset of electronic device 120 in accordancewith certain aspects of the present disclosure. Electronic device 120may be a portable electronic device or wearable electronic device (e.g.,a wearable medical device) that may be powered by a rechargeable ornon-rechargeable battery. Auxiliary device 140 may include, for example,a wireless charging device. Electronic device 120 may be placed onauxiliary device 140, docked to or engaged with auxiliary device 140, orotherwise placed in the vicinity of auxiliary device 140, and may beremovable from auxiliary device 140. In some embodiments, electronicdevice 120 may be a reusable portion (e.g., the electronics) of awearable medical device (e.g., a patch insulin pump), and auxiliarydevice 140 may have the same shape as a disposable portion (e.g.,including an insulin container) of the wearable medical device, suchthat electronic device 120 and auxiliary device 140 may be engaged toalign properly and form a system with a substantially continuous outerenclosure.

In the illustrated example, electronic device 120 may include a housing121 substantially enclosing a battery assembly 122, a non-contact sensor124, a reset/shutdown control circuit 126, a wireless charging circuit128, a charge manager 127, a load 125, and a switch 130. In someembodiments, battery assembly 122 of electronic device 120 may beinaccessible or may not be easily accessible. For example, housing 121may form or may be part of a fluid-tight or hermetically sealedenclosure. In some embodiments, electronic device 120 may also be devoidof a user interface (e.g., a button, a mechanical switch, or a touchscreen on housing 121) that would enable manual hardware shutdown and/orreset by users, for example, for safety reasons (e.g., to avoidunintentional reset or power down) and/or due to the limited size ofelectronic device 120. Electronic device 120 may include additionalcomponents and/or features (e.g., included in load 125 or not shown inFIG. 1 ) depending on, for example, the function and application ofelectronic device 120, which may be a medical device, a power tool, aconsumer electronic device, a communication device, an industrialdevice, and the like.

Load 125 may be any power-consuming features of electronic device 120that enable the functionality of, for example, processors, energystorage devices, motors, generators, transducers, and other hardwarecomponents. For example, load 125 may include the main functionalportions of electronic device 120, such as one or more microcontrollers,microprocessors, data communication circuits, sensors, actuators, motorcontrollers, and the like. Load 125 may be electrically connected tobattery assembly 122 through a charge manager 127 and a switch 130, andmay normally be powered by battery assembly 122, which may include arechargeable or non-rechargeable battery. Battery assembly 122 mayinclude a battery having one or more battery cells. In some embodiments,battery assembly 122 may include charge and/or protection circuitry forcharge, discharge, and/or protection of the battery. Load 125 may alsobe powered by power from wireless charging circuit 128 through chargemanager 127, which may be able select power from either battery assembly122 or wireless charging circuit 128 for powering load 125. Chargemanager 127 may also be used to charge a rechargeable battery of batteryassembly 122.

Reset/shutdown control circuit 126 may be used to enable a hardwareshutdown and/or reset sequence. For example, reset/shutdown controlcircuit 126 can be used to turn on or off switch 130 to disconnectand/or reconnect load 125 and battery assembly 122, after a certain timedelay or according to a certain timing sequence, upon receiving areset/shutdown request signal. In one example, reset/shutdown controlcircuit 126 may include a timing circuit, such as a clocking circuit(e.g., a crystal oscillator) and a timer (e.g., a clock counter) thatcan be used to control the time delay before disconnecting batteryassembly 122, and/or the time delay after disconnecting battery assembly122 and before reconnecting battery assembly 122. In some embodiments,reset/shutdown control circuit 126 may control switch 130 through abattery protection circuit. Reset/shutdown control circuit 126 mayreceive reset/shutdown request signals from non-contact sensor 124 whenthere is no on-board user interface (e.g., button or touch screen) forreceiving reset/shutdown requests from a user. Reset/shutdown controlcircuit 126 may not be powered by battery assembly 122, and thus may notbe functional during the normal use of electronic device 120 (e.g., wornby a user), thereby preventing accidental, unintentional, or otherinadvertent shutdown/reset of the electronic device during normal use.

Non-contact sensor 124 may be any suitable non-contact sensor configuredto detect a non-contact signal from auxiliary device 140, such as, forexample, an electromagnetic sensor configured to detect electromagneticsignals, an optical sensor (e.g., infrared photodetector) configured todetect optical signals (e.g., infrared light signals), a Hall-effectsensor configured to detect magnetic field signals, or anotherelectrical and/or magnetic field sensor, such as a magnetoresistiveposition sensor (e.g., 1-axis, 2-axis, or 3-axis), a fluxgate sensor, asuperconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), a resonant sensor,an induction magnetometer, a linear variable differential transformer,an Eddy current sensor, a variable reluctance sensor, a magneticencoder, a permanent magnet linear contactless displacement sensor, andthe like. Non-contact sensor 124 may generate a signal in response todetecting the non-contact signal from auxiliary device 140 and providethe signal to reset/shutdown control circuit 126, or, in someembodiments, directly to switch 130. For example, non-contact sensor 124may provide the received reset/shutdown request signal to reset/shutdowncontrol circuit 126, which may include a countdown timer circuit thatcan provide a suitable signal to change the state of switch 130 afterexpiration of a predetermined time period as described above. Asreset/shutdown control circuit 126, non-contact sensor 124 may not bepowered by battery assembly 122 either, and thus may not be functionalduring the normal use of electronic device 120, thereby preventingaccidental, unintentional, or other inadvertent triggering of theshutdown/reset of the electronic device during normal use.

Switch 130 may in the electrical connection path between batteryassembly 122 and load 125 (e.g., through charge manager 127). In someembodiments, switch 130 may include a power relay or another electricalor electromechanical switch that can be switched on (to a closed state)or off (to an open state) using a switch control signal. When switch 130is switched, for example, from the closed state to the open state,battery assembly 122 may be disconnected from load 125 and chargemanager 127, thereby removing power from load 125 to shut downelectronic device 120. When switch 130 is switched, for example, fromthe open state to the closed state, battery assembly 122 may bereconnected to load 125, thereby restarting electronic device 120. Inthis manner, switch 130 can be switched independently of amicrocontroller unit (MCU) or other processor(s) of electronic device120 that may be parts of load 125. Therefore, hardware shutdown or resetcan be accomplished independently of the MCU or other processor(s) ofelectronic device 120.

When a shutdown request is received (e.g., through non-contact sensor124), reset/shutdown control circuit 126 may generate a switch controlsignal to set switch 130 to the open state to disconnect batteryassembly from load 125 such that electronic device 120 may no longerconsume power from battery assembly 122. In some embodiments, when areset request is received (e.g., through non-contact sensor 124),reset/shutdown control circuit 126 may, after setting switch 130 to theopen state to disconnect battery assembly from load 125, setting switch130 to the closed state after a delay to reconnect battery assembly 122to load 125, thereby restoring power to electronic device 120, such thatelectronic device 120 may be restart or reboot. In some embodiments,electronic device 120 may be reset upon a subsequent power-on aftershutdown, upon receiving wireless power signals through wirelesscharging circuit 128, upon cessation of detection of non-contact signalsby non-contact sensor 124, upon receipt of a suitable signal fromanother component of electronic device 120, and/or in any other suitablemanner.

Wireless charging circuit 128 may be a charging interface and mayinclude, for example, an antenna, a wireless charging receiver, and/or acharge management circuit. Wireless charging circuit 128 may receivewireless electric power signals from auxiliary device 140 through theantenna (e.g., including an inductive coil or a capacitive couplingdevice). In some embodiments, wireless charging circuit 128 may include,for example, a Qi power receiver. Reset/shutdown control circuit 126 andnon-contact sensor 124 may be powered by wireless charging circuit 128,rather than battery assembly 122. In some embodiments, charge manager127 may receive electric power from the wireless charging receiver ofwireless charging circuit 128, and provide the electric power to load125 and/or charge a rechargeable battery of battery assembly 122, whenelectronic device 120 is docked to, engaged with, or placed on auxiliarydevice 140.

Auxiliary device 140 may be any suitable device configured to interactwith electronic device 120 to provide wireless charging power and/ornon-contact signals (e.g., for hardware reset/shutdown request). In someembodiments, auxiliary device 140 may also interact with electronicdevice 120 in other ways and/or for other purposes. For example,auxiliary device 140 may be configured as one or more of: a chargerconfigured to charge battery assembly 122 of electronic device 120; adock configured to support electronic device 120 and, in someembodiments, connect electronic device 120 to one or more peripheraldevices; a peripheral device connectable to electronic device 120; adevice to which electronic device 120 is connectable as a peripheraldevice or as part of a system; a communication device configured tocommunicate with electronic device 120; or a device for download datafrom or upload data to a storage device or a cloud. In the illustratedexample, auxiliary device 140 may include an enclosure 141 andcomponents enclosed by enclosure 141, such as a wireless chargingtransmitter 142, a non-contact signal transmitter 144, one or more userinterfaces 146, an input port 148, a controller 145, and the like.Auxiliary device 140 may also include additional components and/orfeatures not shown in FIG. 1 , depending on, for example, the specificfunction and application of auxiliary device 140.

Input port 148 may include, for example, various types of UniversalSerial Bus(USB) ports, or other connector devices for receiving dataand/or power through a cable. In some embodiments, a voltage regulatormay be used to regulate the voltage signal from input port 148 andprovide a DC voltage level to controller 145, which may be amicrocontroller unit (MCU) of auxiliary device 140. Controller 145 maycontrol the operations of auxiliary device 140. For example, controller145 may control wireless charging transmitter 142 to transmit wirelesspower signals through a coil or another transmitting antenna; maycontrol non-contact signal transmitter 144 for transmitting non-contactsignals, such as non-contact control signals for powering down orresetting electronic device 120; and may receive user inputs and/orprovide output through one or more user interfaces 146. In someembodiments, controller 145 may control power switches to disconnect orconnect power input to wireless charging transmitter 142 and/ornon-contact signal transmitter 144.

Non-contact signal transmitter 144 of auxiliary device 140 may beconfigured to provide a non-contact signal to electronic device 120 atan appropriate amplitude or intensity for reception and detection bynon-contact sensor 124. For example, non-contact signal transmitter 144may be configured to provide an optical signal (e.g., infrared lightpulses), a magnetic field signal, an low-amplitude electromagneticsignal (e.g., compared with wireless power signals) such as aradio-frequency (RF) signal, and the like. In some embodiments, thenon-contact signal provided by non-contact signal transmitter 144 mayonly be detectable by non-contact sensor 124 of electronic device 120that is within a very short range from auxiliary device 140, such as,for example, within approximately 5 cm or closer, although other rangesare also contemplated.

The one or more user interfaces 146 may be used to, for example, receiveuser requests for powering down or resetting electronic device 120,provide status of auxiliary device 140 and/or electronic device 120 tousers, and the like. For example, the one or more user interfaces 146may include depressible buttons (e.g., including multi-stage buttons),sliders, mechanical switches, dials, and the like. In some embodiments,actuation of the one or more user interfaces 146 by a user may causecontroller 145 to control non-contact signal transmitter 144 to generatethe non-contact signal for detection by non-contact sensor 124 ofelectronic device 120. Alternatively or additionally, the actuation ofthe one or more user interfaces 146 by a user may itself provide thenon-contact signal to electronic device 120. For example, in someembodiments, the one or more user interfaces 146 may include a slidablemagnet that can be manually slid to two or more different positions tosend different non-contact signals (e.g., for shutdown and resetrequests) to initiate an action on electronic device 120. In anotherexample, when the user slides the slidable magnet to differentlocations, non-contact sensor 124 (e.g., a Hall-effect sensor) ofelectronic device 120 may detect the changes in the magnetic field, andmay identify the reset or shutdown request based on, for example, thenumber of times the user slides the slidable magnet and/or the durationof the slidable magnet at a position (e.g., the position closest to theHall-effect sensor on electronic device 120).

In some embodiments, the particular manner of actuation, such as thecombination of the actuations of the one or more user interfaces 146,the sequence of actuation of one or more user interfaces 146, and/or theduration of the actuation of one or more user interfaces 146, maycorrespond to a particular user request, and may be distinguishable bycontroller 145. In one example, one button on auxiliary device 140 maybe used to initiate a hardware shutdown of electronic device 120, andanother button on auxiliary device 140 may be used to initiate ahardware reset of electronic device 120. In another example, one buttonon auxiliary device 140 may be pressed and held for different respectivedurations to initiate a hardware shutdown and a hardware reset ofelectronic device 120, where controller 145 may determine the user inputbased on the duration the button has been pressed and held. Based on theuser input, controller 145 may enable non-contact signal transmitter 144to transmit a wireless control signal. In some embodiments, controller145 may cause non-contact signal transmitter 144 to transmit the samewireless control signal for both hardware shutdown and hardware reset.In some other embodiments, controller 145 may cause non-contact signaltransmitter 144 to transmit different non-contact signals that aredistinguishable by non-contact sensor 124 of electronic device 120. Insome embodiments, the one or more user interfaces 146 may directlyconnect to non-contact signal transmitter 144 to initiate output of thewireless control signal therefrom. In some embodiments, rather thanactuation from user interfaces 146, some signals sent to controller 145(or directly to non-contact signal transmitter 144) may be provided fromanother component or device that may be in communication with auxiliarydevice 140 wirelessly or through, for example, input port 148 (e.g., aUSB port).

In some embodiments, the one or more user interfaces 146 may include anoutput user interface for providing status information to the user. Forexample, the one or more user interfaces 146 may include one or morevisible light emitting diodes that may emit light of different colorsand/or different light patterns (e.g., steady output and/or blinking atdifferent frequencies), to indicate, for example, whether electronicdevice 120 is being charged, is reset, is powered down, or can be safelyremoved from auxiliary device 140.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram 200 illustrating an example of a method ofnon-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset of an electronic deviceaccording to certain embodiments. The method may be performed by asystem (e.g., system 100) that includes an auxiliary device 202 (e.g.,an example of auxiliary device 140) and an electronic device 204 (e.g.,an example of electronic device 120). In the illustrated example, whenhardware reset and/or shutdown of electronic device 120 is desired, auser may actuate one or more user interfaces (e.g., user interfaces 146)of auxiliary device 202 in an appropriate manner. In some embodiments, afirst manner of actuation of the one or more user interfaces may triggera reset of electronic device 204, while a second manner of actuation ofthe one or more user interfaces may trigger a shutdown of electronicdevice 204. At block 210, auxiliary device 202 (e.g., a controller ofauxiliary device 202) may receive the user request for reset or shutdownof electronic device 204 by detecting and determining the manner ofactuation of the one or more user interfaces by the user. At block 220,auxiliary device 202 may directly or indirectly (e.g., through acontroller) signals a non-contact signal transmitter (e.g., non-contactsignal transmitter 144) of auxiliary device 202 to generate and output awireless control signal to electronic device 204.

If electronic device 204 is sufficiently close to (e.g., placed on,docked to, or engaged with) auxiliary device 202, a non-contact sensor(e.g., non-contact sensor 124) of electronic device 204 may be able todetect the wireless control signal from the non-contact signaltransmitter of auxiliary device 202, as shown by block 230. When thenon-contact sensor detects a wireless control signal or, in someembodiments, a particular wireless control signal (e.g., a wirelesscontrol signal of a particular magnitude, duration, and/or othercharacteristics), the non-contact sensor may directly or indirectlyinitiate a reset or shutdown of electronic device 204, as shown by block240. As described above and below, initiating a reset or shutdown ofelectronic device 204 may include, for example, starting a countdowntimer, providing an input to a controller or other circuity that awireless control signal has been detected, providing a signal todirectly or indirectly change the state of a power switch (e.g., switch130) of electronic device 204, and the like. The initiation of ashutdown of electronic device 204 at block 240 may result in switchingthe power switch from a closed state to an open state, therebydisconnecting a battery (e.g., battery assembly 122) from the systemload (e.g., load 125) of electronic device 204 to remove power fromelectronic device 204. Electronic device 204 may remain powered downuntil the battery is reconnected by, for example, switching the powerswitch from the open state to the closed state, or until electronicdevice 204 is charged again by auxiliary device 202. If a reset ofelectronic device 204 is initiated, reconnection/recharge and restartmay be performed after the disconnection.

In the following descriptions, particular implementations of systems(e.g., system 100 of FIG. 1 ) and methods (e.g., the method of FIG. 2 )for non-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset of electronic devices aredetailed. The particular implementations are for illustration purposesonly and are not intended to limit the present disclosure to theparticular implementations described herein. To the extent consistent,any of the aspects and features detailed herein may be utilized in anysuitable combination with one another, with system 100 of FIG. 1 ,and/or with the method of FIG. 2 .

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a system 300 including an electronicdevice 320 and an auxiliary device 340 enabling non-contact hardwareshutdown and/or reset of electronic device 320 according to certainembodiments. In the illustrated example, system 300 may be similar tosystem 100 of FIG. 1 . Electronic device 320 may be a rechargeable,battery-powered, portable electronic device 320 without suitable userinterfaces to enable hardware reset or shutdown thereof. Auxiliarydevice 340 may be a charger for electronic device 320. Althoughelectronic device 320 and auxiliary device 340 are detailed below asconfigured for wireless power transfer to charge electronic device 320,contact-based charging of electronic device 320 may also be performedusing certain features (e.g., a docking interface with electricalconnections) of auxiliary device 340. To perform a hardwareshutdown/reset, electronic device 320 may be placed on, docked to, orengage with auxiliary device 340.

As illustrated, electronic device 320 may include a housing 321enclosing therein: a battery assembly including a battery 322 having oneor more battery cells, and a battery protection circuit 323; anon-contact sensor such as, for example, a Hall-effect sensor 324; areset/shutdown timer circuit 325; a switch 326; a system load 330; awireless charging antenna (e.g., a coil 332); a wireless charge receiver334; a charge manager circuit 336; and the like. The various circuits ofelectronic device 320 and/or other circuits detailed herein may beconfigured as integrated circuit (IC) chips provided on one or morecircuit boards, or may have any other suitable configuration.

In some embodiments, battery 322 may be electrically connected to coil332, wireless charge receiver 334, and/or charge manager circuit 336 forcharging battery 322, and may be connected to system load 330 forpowering system load 330 and/or discharging battery 322. Batteryprotection circuit 323 may, for example, monitor charging, discharging,temperature, and/or other parameters of battery 322 to ensure safe andeffective operation of battery 322. Battery protection circuit 323 maybe connected to switch 326, which may be used to connect battery 322 tosystem load 330 or disconnect battery 322 from system load 330. Forexample,, when switch 326 is closed, charging and/or discharging (e.g.,to power system load 330) of battery 322 may be permitted. When switch326 is open, charging and/or discharging of battery 322 may beinhibited. As described above, switch 326 may include, for example, apower relay or another electrical, electromagnetic, or electromechanicalswitch that can be switched on or off using an electrical controlsignal.

Hall-effect sensor 324 may be configured to detect the presence or achange (e.g., more than a threshold magnitude) of a magnetic fieldadjacent housing 321 of electronic device 320. As illustrated,Hall-effect sensor 324 may not be powered by battery 322, but may beconnected to wireless charge receiver 334 to be powered by the wirelesscharging power received by coil 332 from auxiliary device 340.Therefore, during normal use or when electronic device 320 is otherwisenot charged, Hall-effect sensor 324 would not be functional. As such,when the electronic device 320 is not charged, even if there are straymagnetic fields, Hall-effect sensor 324 may not be operational and maynot be susceptible to the magnetic fields to trigger accidental,unintentional, or other inadvertent shutdown/reset of electronic device320. Other suitable magnetic, electrical, or electromagnetic sensors mayalso be used, such as, for example, a magnetoresistive position sensor,a fluxgate sensor, a superconducting quantum interference device(SQUID), a resonant sensor, an induction magnetometer, a linear variabledifferential transformer, an Eddy current sensor, a variable reluctancesensor, a magnetic encoder, a permanent magnet linear contactlessdisplacement sensor, and the like.

Reset/shutdown timer circuit 325 may be connected to Hall-effect sensor324 such that when Hall-effect sensor 324 detects the presence or changeof a magnetic field, a signal is provided from Hall-effect sensor 324 toreset/shutdown timer circuit 325 to initiate a shutdown and/or resettimer. As with Hall-effect sensor 324, reset/shutdown timer circuit 325may not be powered by battery 322, but may instead be connected towireless charge receiver 334 to be powered by the wireless chargingpower from auxiliary device 340 through coil 332. Therefore, duringnormal operation of electronic device 320 or when electronic device 320is otherwise not charged, reset/shutdown timer circuit 325 would not befunctional and would not shut down or reset electronic device 320,thereby avoiding accidental, unintentional, or other inadvertentshutdown/reset of electronic device 320. Reset/shutdown timer circuit325 may be connected to battery protection circuit 323 such that, at theexpiration of the shutdown and/or reset timer, a signal may be providedby reset/shutdown timer circuit 325 to battery protection circuit 323,so that battery protection circuit 323 may provide a control signal toswitch 326 to change the state of switch 326 from a closed state to anopen state, thereby disconnecting battery 322 and inhibiting charge anddischarge of battery 322 to power down electronic device 320. In someembodiments, reset/shutdown timer circuit 325 may not be used, andHall-effect sensor 324 may be directly connected to battery protectioncircuit 323 or switch 326 to provide the control signal for switchingswitch 326. In some embodiments, battery protection circuit 323 may bepowered by, for example, battery 322.

The wireless charging antenna (e.g., coil 332) may be configured toreceive wireless charging power from auxiliary device 340 whenelectronic device 320 is close to and is aligned with auxiliary device340. As described above, the wireless charging may be based on industrystandards such as Qi or proprietary wireless charging technology.Wireless charge receiver 334 may be powered by coil 332, and may sendthe power received from coil 332 to, for example, Hall-effect sensor324, reset/shutdown timer circuit 325, and charge manager circuit 336.Since reset/shutdown timer circuit 325 and Hall-effect sensor 324 can bepowered by wireless charge receiver 334 using power received by coil332, these components may not depend on power from battery 322, and thusmay be independent therefrom and may continue to operate even if battery322 is disconnected. Reset/shutdown timer circuit 325 and Hall-effectsensor 324 may be relatively easy to implement and may only minimallyincrease the complexity and cost of electronic device 320.

Charge manager circuit 336 may control the powering of system load 330,for example, using battery 322 and/or power received from wirelesscharge receiver 334. In some embodiments, charge manager circuit 336 mayalso manage the charging of battery 322 using power received fromwireless charge receiver 334 and coil 332. Charge manager circuit 336may be powered by battery 322 and/or power received from wireless chargereceiver 334.

Auxiliary device 340 may include a body 341 and included thereon ortherein: a wireless control signal transmitter (e.g., an example ofnon-contact signal transmitter 144), which may be in the form of anelectromagnetic coil 344; one or more user interfaces which may be inthe form of one or more buttons 348 and 349 (and the underlyingswitches); an output interface including, for example, one or more LEDs350; a wireless power signal transmitting coil 352; a wireless chargetransmitter circuit 354; one or more switches 342 and 346; an MCU 356; avoltage regulator circuit 358; an input port 360 (e.g., a USB port); ora combination thereof.

Input port 360 may be configured to connect auxiliary device 340 to apower source, such as, for example, a standard wall output and/orassociated adapter (not shown), using a USB cable (not shown). In someembodiments, input port 360 may also receive data, instructions, orother inputs from an external device through, for example, a connectioncable. Power received at input port 360 may be fed to voltage regulatorcircuit 358, which may regulate input power signals received at inputport 360 and generate a DC voltage signal at an appropriate voltagelevel, such as the operating voltage of MCU 356 (e.g., 5 V, 3.3 V, 1.8V, 1.2 V, etc.). The output of voltage regulator circuit 358 may beconnected to MCU 356 to power MCU 356.

Input port 360 may also be connected to wireless charge transmittercircuit 354, optionally through switch 342, to provide power to wirelesspower signal transmitting coil 352 for transmitting to electronic device320. Switch 342, when present, may be controlled by MCU 356 and may beused to enable or disable the powering of wireless charge transmittercircuit 354 and thus the transmitting of wireless power signals bywireless power signal transmitting coil 352. In some embodiments, inputport 360 may further be connected to electromagnetic coil 344,optionally through switch 346, to provide power to electromagnetic coil344. Switch 346, when present, may be controlled by MCU 356 and may beused to enable or disable the powering of electromagnetic coil 344 andthus the transmitting of wireless control signals by electromagneticcoil 344 to the non-contact sensor (e.g., Hall-effect sensor 324) ofelectronic device 320.

MCU 356 may be the main controller of auxiliary device 340. As describedabove, MCU 356 may be connected to switches 342 and 346 to control theopening and closing of switches 342 and 346. As illustrated, MCU 356 mayalso be connected to wireless charge transmitter circuit 354 to controlwireless power transmission from auxiliary device 340 to electronicdevice 320. MCU 356 may further be connected to the one or more buttons348 and 349 or other input user interfaces for receiving user inputs.MCU 356 may additionally be connected to one or more LEDs 350 or otheroutput user interfaces for outputting information such as status ofvarious devices and signaling to users. For example, MCU 356 may controlthe one or more LEDs 350 to emit light in particular colors, lightingpatterns (e.g., steady or flashing at various frequencies), or variouscombinations of colors and/or lighting patterns, in order to conveystatus information such as, for example, charging in progress, chargecomplete, no device present, shutdown in progress, shutdown complete,reset in progress, reset complete, error occurred, and the like.

Actuation of the one or more buttons 348 and 349 in a particularcombination, pattern, and the like, may signal MCU 356 to, for example,initiate wireless charging, stop wireless charging, initiate thetransmission of a hardware shutdown signal, initiate the transmission ofa hardware reset signal, and the like. For example, the user may pressone button 348 to request a hardware shutdown of electronic device 320,and may press another button 349 to request a hardware reset ofelectronic device 320. In another example, one button 348 may be pressedand held for a first duration to initiate a hardware shutdown ofelectronic device 320 and may be pressed and held for a second durationto initiate a hardware reset of electronic device 320. When the userperforms a particular actuation or a particular combination ofactuations of the one or more buttons 348 and 349, MCU 356 may determinethe user request and provide a signal to close switch 346, therebyenabling the supply of power to electromagnetic coil 344. Whenelectromagnetic coil 344 is powered, a current may be supplied toelectromagnetic coil 344 to generate a magnetic field of a sufficientlyhigh magnitude, which may be detectable by Hall-effect sensor 324 ofelectronic device 320.

In some embodiments, electromagnetic coil 344 may be powered fordifferent durations or using different current amplitudes, such thatsignals transmitted by electromagnetic coil 344 may have differentmagnitudes, different durations, different repeating patterns, or acombination, to indicate different user requests (e.g., shutdown requestand reset request) to electronic device 320. In some embodiments, thesignal transmitted by electromagnetic coil 344 may be the same for bothshutdown and reset, and MCU 356 may determine whether or not tore-initiate charging after the shutdown based upon whether a shutdown orreset request is received from the actuation (e.g., press and hold) ofthe one or more buttons 348 and 349. For example, if MCU 356 determinesthat the user requests a shutdown, MCU 356 may disable the transmissionof wireless power signals to electronic device 320. On the other hand,if MCU 356 determines that the user requests a reset, MCU 356 maymaintain or re-initiate the transmission of wireless power signals toelectronic device 320 after the shutdown of electronic device 320 suchthat electronic device 320 may be restarted. Transmitting the samewireless control signal to electronic device 320 for both hardware resetand shutdown and using auxiliary device 340 to perform additionaloptions that may be different for hardware reset and shutdown may helpto reduce the complexity and cost of electronic device 320.

In some embodiments, electromagnetic coil 344, wireless power signaltransmitting coil 352, Hall-effect sensor 324, and coil 332 may berelatively positioned in auxiliary device 340 and electronic device 320such that, when electronic device 320 is properly placed on or engagedwith auxiliary device 340, or is properly placed in a position in closeproximity to auxiliary device 340, wireless power signal transmittingcoil 352 and coil 332 may be approximated and aligned, andelectromagnetic coil 344 and Hall-effect sensor 324 may also beapproximated and aligned. In some embodiments, body 341 and/or housing321 may include alignment features to facilitate the desired alignmentand approximation when electronic device 320 is placed on or engagedwith auxiliary device 340. For example, in some embodiments, body 341and housing 321 may have complementary shapes or matching features, suchthat electronic device 320 and auxiliary device 340 can be mated andcoupled together in a particular manner to ensure the desired alignmentand proximity. In one example described in detail below, electronicdevice 320 may be a durable or reusable portion of a wearable medicaldevice (e.g., an infusion pump), while auxiliary device 340 may have thesame shape as a disposable portion (e.g., the portion that includes atherapeutic fluid reservoir that can be replaced) of the wearablemedical device that is mated with the durable or reusable portion in thewearable medical device. In this way, electronic device 320 andauxiliary device 340 may only be coupled in a unique way to ensure thedesired alignment and approximation described above.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a system 400 including anelectronic device 420 and an auxiliary device 440 enabling non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset of electronic device 420 according tocertain embodiments. System 400 may be similar to system 300 and mayinclude many features and components similar to or same as correspondingfeatures and components of system 300 of FIG. 3 and system 100 of FIG. 1. Thus, only differences between system 400 and system 300 are describedin detail hereinbelow while similarities are summarily described oromitted entirely.

In the illustrated example, electronic device 420 may include a housing421 and, enclosed therein: a battery assembly including a battery 422having one or more battery cells, and a battery protection circuit 423;a non-contact sensor such as, for example, an infrared (IR) receiver424; a reset/shutdown timer circuit 425; a switch 426; a system load430; a wireless charging antenna (e.g., a coil 432); a wireless chargereceiver 434; a charge manager circuit 436; or a combination thereof.Electronic device 420 may be similar to electronic device 320 of FIG. 3, but may include a non-contact sensor that is in the form of IRreceiver 424 (e.g., including an infrared photodetector and ademodulator), rather than a Hall-effect sensor. Other components andfeatures of electronic device 420 may be similar to or same as othercomponents and features of electronic device 320. As Hall-effect sensor324, IR receiver 424 are not powered by a battery (e.g., battery 422),and thus would not be functional during normal operation of electronicdevice 420 or when electronic device 420 is otherwise not charged. Assuch, during normal operation of electronic device 420 (not charged),even if there is stray IR light, IR receiver 424 may not be operationaland may not be susceptible to the IR light to trigger accidental,unintentional, or other inadvertent shutdown/reset of electronic device420. Similarly, reset/shutdown timer circuit 425 may not be powered bybattery 422, but may instead be connected to wireless charge receiver434 to be powered by the wireless charging power. Therefore, duringnormal operation of electronic device 420 or when electronic device 420is otherwise not charged, reset/shutdown timer circuit 425 would not befunctional and would not shut down or reset electronic device 420,thereby avoiding accidental, unintentional, or other inadvertentshutdown/reset of electronic device 420.

Auxiliary device 440 may include a body 441 and, included thereon ortherein: one or more switches 442; a wireless signal transmitter whichmay include an IR emitter 444; one or more user interfaces which mayinclude one or more buttons 448 and 449 (and the underlying switches);an output interface including, for example, one or more LEDs 450; awireless power signal transmitting coil 452; a wireless chargetransmitter circuit 454; an MCU 456; a voltage regulator circuit 458; aninput port 460 (e.g., a USB port); or a combination thereof. Auxiliarydevice 440 may be similar to auxiliary device 340 of FIG. 3 , but mayinclude a wireless signal transmitter that includes IR emitter 444(rather than electromagnetic coil 344). IR emitter 444 may be controlledand powered by MCU 456, and thus there may not be connection from inputport 460 to IR emitter 444 through a switch (e.g., switch 346).

In system 400, when the user performs a particular actuation or aparticular combination of actuations of the one or more buttons 448 and449, MCU 456 may determine the user request and control IR emitter 444to emit an IR optical signal. In some embodiments, the IR optical signalmay have a particular intensity, wavelength, duration, pulse rate, or acombination thereof, to initiate a hardware shutdown of electronicdevice 420. In some embodiments, the IR optical signal may vary in, forexample, intensity, wavelength, duration, pulsing rate, and the like, inorder to provide different wireless control signals (e.g., for hardwareshutdown and hardware reset) to electronic device 420. IR receiver 424may be configured to receive and demodulate the IR optical signals todetermine the user request, and provide a signal to reset/shutdown timercircuit 425 to initiate a shutdown timer and/or a reset timer.Reset/shutdown timer circuit 425 may open switch 426 to disconnectbattery 422 after the shutdown timer expires. In some embodiments, whena reset of electronic device 420 is requested, reset/shutdown timercircuit 425 may close switch 426 to reconnect battery 422 after thereset timer expires.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of a system 500 including anelectronic device 520 and an auxiliary device 540 enabling non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset of electronic device 520 according tocertain embodiments. System 500 may be similar to system 300 or 400, andmay include many features and components similar to or same ascorresponding features and components of system 100 of FIG. 1 , system300 of FIG. 3 , and system 400 of FIG. 4 . Thus, only differencesbetween system 500 and system 300 are described in detail hereinbelowwhile similarities are summarily described or omitted entirely.

In the illustrated example, electronic device 520 may include a housing521 and, enclosed therein: a battery assembly including a battery 522having one or more battery cells, and a battery protection circuit 523;a non-contact sensor such as, for example, Hall-effect sensor 524; areset/shutdown timer circuit 525; a switch 526; a system load 530; awireless charging antenna (e.g., a coil 532); a wireless charge receiver534; a charge manager circuit 536, or a combination thereof. Electronicdevice 520 may be similar to or same as electronic device 320 of FIG. 3, except that the non-contact sensor (e.g., Hall-effect sensor 524) maydetect and determine the user request in a different manner as detailedbelow. As in electronic device 320, Hall-effect sensor 524 andreset/shutdown timer circuit 525 are not powered by a battery (e.g.,battery 522), and thus would not be functional during normal operationof electronic device 520 or when electronic device 520 is otherwise notcharged. As such, during normal operation of electronic device 520 (notcharged), even if there are stray magnetic fields, Hall-effect sensor524 and reset/shutdown timer circuit 525 may not be operational and maynot be susceptible to the magnetic field to accidentally,unintentionally, or other inadvertently shut down/reset electronicdevice 520.

Auxiliary device 540 may include a body 541 and, included thereon ortherein: one or more switches 542; a signal output device in the form ofa slidable magnet 544; a Hall-effect sensor 546; an output userinterface including, for example, one or more LEDs 550; a wireless powersignal transmitting coil 552; a wireless charge transmitter circuit 554;an MCU 556; a voltage regulator circuit 558; an input port 560 (e.g., aUSB port); or a combination thereof. Auxiliary device 540 may be similarto auxiliary device 340 of FIG. 3 or auxiliary device 440 of FIG. 4 .But Auxiliary device 540 may include a slidable magnet 544 as both thewireless control signal transmitter (rather than electromagnetic coil344 or IR emitter 444) and part of the input user interface (rather thanone or more buttons 348 and 349); and a Hall-effect sensor 546 as partof the input user interface. Slidable magnet 544 may include a magnet544 a (e.g., a permanent magnet) that may be slid along a track 544 c,and one or more springs 544 b that may constraint the position of magnet544 a. For example, the one or more springs 544 b may bias magnet 544 aat an un-actuated position (e.g., at the left end, center, or right endof slidable magnet 544) when magnet 544 a is not slid by the user.Magnet 544 a can be manually slid along track 544 c to differentpositions by a user to request a shutdown or reset of electronic device520. In some embodiments, an external slide knob, button, and the like(not shown) may be provided, to facilitate user manipulation of slidablemagnet 544.

Movement of magnet 544 a from one position (e.g., an un-actuatedposition at the left end of track 544 c) towards another position (e.g.,an actuated position at the right end of track 544 c) may change themagnetic field in the surrounding area. The change of the magnetic fieldmay be detected by Hall-effect sensor 524 of electronic device 520 toinitiate a shutdown or reset of electronic device. In some embodiments,the number of movements of magnet 544 a between the un-actuated positionand the actuated position, and/or the duration that magnet 544 a ismaintained in the actuated position may be used to indicate a specificuser request (e.g., hardware shutdown or request), and may be detectedby Hall-effect sensor 524 to initiate a hardware shutdown or reset ofelectronic device 520. For example, sliding magnet 544 a from theun-actuated position to the actuated position fewer times (e.g., one ortwo times) or holding magnet 544 a at the actuated position for ashorter time period (e.g., 5 seconds or shorter) may indicate a userrequest for the shutdown of electronic device 520, while sliding magnet544 a from the un-actuated position to the actuated position more times(e.g., two or more times) or holding magnet 544 a at the actuatedposition for a longer time period (e.g., 10 seconds or longer) mayindicate a user request for a reset of electronic device 520. In someembodiments, Hall-effect sensor 546 of auxiliary device 540 may alsodetect the sliding of magnet 544 a, and may provide signals to MCU 556to indicating the user request, such that MCU 556 may respondaccordingly. For example, MCU 556 may, based on the user request, openor close switch 542 to enable or disable wireless charging, or controlone or more LEDs 550 to emit light in particular colors, lightingpatterns, or combinations of colors and/or lighting patterns, to conveycertain status information (e.g., charging, charge complete, no devicepresent, shutdown in progress, shutdown complete, reset in progress,reset complete, error occurred, etc.) to the user.

FIGS. 6A-6C include flow diagrams illustrating examples of non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset processes according to certainembodiments. For example, the flow diagrams in FIGS. 6A and 6Billustrate an example of a non-contact hardware reset process accordingto certain embodiments, while the flow diagrams in FIGS. 6A and 6Cillustrate an example of a non-contact hardware shutdown processaccording to certain embodiments. The processes shown in FIGS. 6A-6C maybe implemented using system 100, 300, or 400 as shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and4 , or any other suitable devices or systems. The processes illustratedin FIGS. 6A-6C are for illustration purposes only, and are not intendedto limit the non-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset processesdisclosed herein to the specific examples shown in FIGS. 6A-6C. Othersuitable sequences may be implemented using system 100, 300, or 400. Forexample, some operations of the flow diagrams may be omitted orreordered, and/or some operations may be added to the flow. In each ofFIGS. 6A-6C, the left side flow may include operations performed by oron, for example, electronic device 120, 320, or 420, while the rightside flow may include operations performed by or on an auxiliary device,such as auxiliary device 140, 340, or 440. In some embodiments,operations in FIGS. 6A-6C may be performed by the electronic device andthe auxiliary device from top to bottom in chronological order, andFIGS. 6A-6C may use the same relative chronological scale to showtemporal relationships between certain operations of the electronicdevice and certain operations of the auxiliary device .

At block 610, the auxiliary device disclosed herein (e.g., auxiliarydevice 140, 340, or 440) may be connected to a suitable power source.For example, a USB cable may be plugged into the input port (e.g., inputport 148, 360, or 460) of the auxiliary device. After the auxiliarydevice is connected to the power source, the auxiliary device may beinitialized and may provide an indication of its status, such as poweredon but no device present, via, for example, the illumination of aparticular combination of the number, color, and/or pattern of LED(s),at block 612. In one example, the auxiliary device may cause a green LEDto blink to indicate that the auxiliary device is powered on and isready for charging an electronic device. At block 614, an electronicdevice with a rechargeable battery may be placed on the auxiliarydevice. As described above, the electronic device may be aligned withthe auxiliary device, for example, by mating matching (e.g.,complementary) features of the electronic device and the auxiliarydevice, docking the electronic device to a docking socket of theauxiliary device, or using other alignment features when placing theelectronic device on or near the auxiliary device.

At block 616, the auxiliary device may detect the presence of theelectronic device, for example, using a Hall-effect sensor or based on achange in the load (e.g., inductive or capacitive loading) of theauxiliary device. After detecting the presence of the electronic device,the auxiliary device may begin to charge the electronic device at block618, for example, by transmitting wireless power signals using a coil.At block 620, the wireless charge receiving antenna (e.g., a coil) andthe wireless charge receiver of the electronic device may receive thewireless power signal and send the received power to a charge managercircuit (e.g., charge manager circuit 336 or 436) to charge arechargeable battery (e.g., battery 322 or 422) of the electronicdevice. At block 622, after the electronic device begins to be charged,the auxiliary device may provide an indication of its status andindicate that the auxiliary device is transmitting wireless powersignals to charge the electronic device (charging in progress), forexample, via the illumination of a particular number, color, and/orpattern of LEDs (e.g., steady green light). Optionally, at block 624,the electronic device may provide an indication of its status andindicate that the electronic device is being charged, for example, viathe illumination of a particular number, color, and/or pattern of LEDs(e.g., blinking green light).

At block 625, while the auxiliary device is charging the electronicdevice, the user may provide an input to the auxiliary device toinitiate a hardware shutdown or reset, for example, by actuating one ormore buttons of the auxiliary device in a particular pattern and/or fora particular duration to initiate a hardware shutdown or reset. Asdescribed above, in some embodiments, the user may press and hold abutton for a certain time period T1 to initiate a hardware shutdown orreset. In one example, the user may press and hold a first button forone or more seconds to initiate a hardware shutdown, and may press andhold a second button for one or more seconds to initiate a hardwarereset. In another example, the user may press and hold a button for nomore than 5 (e.g., about 5) seconds to initiate a hardware shutdown, andmay press and hold the same button for 5 or more (e.g., about 10)seconds to initiate a hardware reset. The user input may be recognizedby the MCU (or other suitable controller) of the auxiliary device, whichmay control the output user interface of the auxiliary device togenerate a corresponding status indication (e.g., reset or shutdowninitiated) via the illumination of a particular number, color, and/orpattern of LEDs (e.g., blinking yellow light) at block 626. Before,concurrently with, or after the operation at block 626, the auxiliarydevice may generate a non-contact hardware shutdown or reset controlsignal using, for example, electromagnetic coil 344 or IR emitter 444,at block 628, and then wait for a certain time period T2 (e.g., about 20seconds) at block 640.

At block 630, the non-contact hardware shutdown or reset control signalmay be detected by a non-contact sensor of the electronic device, suchas a Hall-effect sensor (e.g., Hall-effect sensor 324) or an IR receiver(e.g., IR receiver 424). Upon detection of the non-contact hardwareshutdown or reset control signal, the electronic device may start ahardware shutdown process at block 632. As described above, theelectronic device may disconnect a battery from the system load of theelectronic device immediately or after a certain time delay. Forexample, the electronic device may start a reset/shutdown timer to waitfor a time period T3 (e.g., longer than 5 or 10 seconds, such as about12.5 seconds) that is shorter than time period T2 (e.g., about 20seconds). After the reset/shutdown timer expires after time period T3 atblock 634, the electronic device may disconnect the battery from thesystem load using a switch to shut down the electronic device at block636 as described above with respect to FIGS. 1-4 , and may remain shutdown at block 638. As described above, the non-contact sensor, thereset/shutdown timer, and the switch may be powered by the wirelesscharging power, rather than the battery, and thus may continue tooperation after the battery is disconnected and the rest of theelectronic device is shut down.

After waiting for time period T2 (e.g., about 20 seconds) at block 640,the auxiliary device may disable its wireless charge transmitter at 642.As such, electronic device may not be charged and may not be powered bythe wireless charging power or the battery. In some embodiments, afterdisabling the wireless charge transmitter, the auxiliary device may waitfor a time period T4 (e.g., about 10 seconds) at block 644 and thendisable the electromagnetic coil or the IR transmitter at block 646. Insome embodiments, the auxiliary device may disable the electromagneticsensor or the IR transmitter before, currently with, or after disablingthe wireless charge transmitter at block 642.

As shown in FIG. 6B, if the user initiated a hardware reset at block625, the auxiliary device may then re-enable its wireless chargetransmitter at block 648 and start to provide power to the electronicdevice, such that the electronic device may restart at block 650 usingthe power received from the auxiliary device and/or the power from thebattery, for example, after the battery is reconnected through theswitch and/or a charge manager circuit. The auxiliary device maycontinue to provide power to the electronic device at block 652, and thebattery reconnected to the charge manager circuit may begin charging atblock 654. During the charging of the electronic device, the auxiliarydevice may provide a suitable status indicator (e.g., steady greenlight) at block 656, and, optionally, the electronic device may providea suitable status indicator (e.g., blinking green light) at block 658.The reset sequence may complete at block 659 when the auxiliary deviceand the electronic device are in the steady charging state.

As shown in FIG. 6C, if the user initiated a hardware shutdown at block625, the auxiliary device may, after the operations at blocks 642-646,provide a status indicator (e.g., steady or blinking light of a certaincolor or combination of colors) at block 660 to indicate that theelectronic device is shut down and is not charging, such that it can besafely removed. The status indicator may signal the user to remove theelectronic device from the auxiliary device at block 662 to complete theshutdown sequence at block 669. In some embodiments, after providing thestatus indicator, the auxiliary device may wait for a time period T5(e.g., about 30 seconds) at block 664, to give user sufficient time toremove the electronic device. After waiting for time period T5, theauxiliary device may re-enable its wireless charge transmitter at block666 and may provide a status indicator at block 668 to indicate that theauxiliary device is ready to charge a device.

FIGS. 7A-7C include flow diagrams illustrating examples of non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset processes according to certainembodiments. For example, the flow diagrams in FIGS. 7A and 7Billustrate an example of a non-contact hardware reset process accordingto certain embodiments, while the flow diagrams in FIGS. 7A and 7Cillustrate an example of a non-contact hardware shutdown processaccording to certain embodiments. The processes shown in FIGS. 7A-7C maybe implemented using, for example, system 500 as shown in FIG. 5 , orany other suitable devices or systems. The processes illustrated inFIGS. 7A-7C are for illustration purposes only, and are not intended tolimited the non-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset processesdisclosed herein to the specific examples shown in FIGS. 7A-7C. Othersuitable sequences may be implemented using system 500. For example,some operations of the flow diagrams may be omitted or reordered, and/orsome operations may be added to the flow. In each of FIGS. 7A-7C, theleft side flow may include operations performed by or on, for example,electronic device 520, while the right side flow may include operationsperformed by or on an auxiliary device, such as auxiliary device 540. Insome embodiments, operations in FIGS. 7A-7C may be performed by theelectronic device and the auxiliary device from top to bottom inchronological order, and FIGS. 7A-7C may use the same relativechronological scale to show temporal relationships between certainoperations of the electronic device and certain operations of theauxiliary device .

At block 700, the auxiliary device (e.g., auxiliary device 540) may beconnected to a suitable power source. For example, a USB cable may beplugged into the input port (e.g., input port 560) of the auxiliarydevice. After the auxiliary device is connected to the power source, theauxiliary device may be initialized and may provide an indication of itsstatus, such as powered on but no device present, via, for example, theillumination of a particular combination of the number, color, and/orpattern of LED(s), at block 702. In one example, the auxiliary devicemay cause a green LED to blink to indicate that the auxiliary device ispowered on and is ready for charging an electronic device. At block 704,an electronic device with a rechargeable battery may be placed on orotherwise engaged with the auxiliary device by a user. As describedabove, the electronic device may be aligned with the auxiliary device,for example, by mating matching/complementary features of the electronicdevice and the auxiliary device, docking the electronic device to adocking socket of the auxiliary device, or using other alignmentfeatures when placing the electronic device on or near the auxiliarydevice.

At block 706, the auxiliary device may detect the presence of theelectronic device, for example, using a Hall-effect sensor or based on achange in the load (e.g., inductive or capacitive loading) of theauxiliary device. After detecting the presence of the electronic device,the auxiliary device may begin to charge the electronic device, forexample, by transmitting wireless power signals using a coil, at block708. At block 710, the wireless charging antenna (e.g., a coil) and thewireless charge receiver of the electronic device may receive thewireless power signal and send the received power to a charge managercircuit (e.g., charge manager circuit 536) to charge a rechargeablebattery (e.g., battery 522) of the electronic device. At block 714,after the electronic device begins to be charged, the auxiliary devicemay provide an indication of its status to indicate that the auxiliarydevice is transmitting wireless power signals to charge the electronicdevice (charging in progress), for example, via illumination of aparticular number, color, and/or pattern of LEDs (e.g., steady greenlight). Optionally, at block 712, the electronic device may provide anindication of its status to indicate that the electronic device is beingcharged, for example, via the illumination of a particular number,color, and/or pattern of LEDs (e.g., blinking green light).

At block 716, while the auxiliary device is charging the electronicdevice, the user may provide an input to the auxiliary device toinitiate a hardware shutdown or reset, for example, by sliding aslidable magnet (e.g., magnet 544 a) of the auxiliary device in aparticular pattern and/or for a particular duration to initiate ahardware shutdown or reset. As described above, in some embodiments, theuser may slide the magnet to a certain position and hold it for acertain time period T1 (e.g., 5 seconds) to initiate a hardware shutdownor reset. In some embodiments, the user may slide the magnet for acertain number of times to initiate a hardware shutdown or reset. Theuser input may be detected by a Hall-effect sensor (e.g., Hall-effectsensor 546) and recognized by the MCU (or other suitable controller) ofthe auxiliary device, which may control the output user interface of theauxiliary device to generate a corresponding status indication (e.g.,reset or shutdown initiated) via the illumination of a particularnumber, color, and/or pattern of LEDs (blinking yellow light) at block720. The user may continue to hold the magnet at a position a certaintime period T2 (e.g., about 15 seconds for hardware rest or about 25seconds for hardware shutdown) at block 722.

At block 724, a non-contact sensor of the electronic device, such as aHall-effect sensor (e.g., Hall-effect sensor 524) may detect themagnetic field generated by the magnet and/or the changes in themagnetic field due to the sliding of the magnet, and may determine thenon-contact hardware shutdown or reset request based on the detectedmagnetic field and/or the changes in the magnetic field. The electronicdevice may then start a hardware shutdown process. As described above,the electronic device may disconnect a battery from the system load ofthe electronic device immediately or after a certain time delay. Forexample, the electronic device may start a reset/shutdown timer at block726 to wait for a time period T3 (e.g., longer than 5 or 10 seconds,such as about 12.5 seconds) that may be shorter than time period T2.After the reset/shutdown timer expires after time period T3 at block728, the electronic device may disconnect the battery from the systemload using a switch at block 730. As described above, the non-contactsensor, the reset/shutdown timer, and the switch may be powered bywireless charging power, rather than the battery, and thus may continueto operation after the battery is disconnected and the rest of theelectronic device is shut down. When the user release the slidablemagnet after holding the magnet in position for time period T2, theauxiliary device may disable its wireless charge transmitter at block732. As such, the electronic device may not be charged and may not bepowered by the wireless charging power or the battery, and thus may beshut down and remain shut down at block 734.

As shown in FIG. 7B, if the user initiated a hardware reset at blocks716-722, the auxiliary device may wait for a certain time period T4(e.g., about 3-5 seconds) at block 736, and may then re-enable itswireless charge transmitter at block 738 and start to provide power tothe electronic device, such that the electronic device may restart atblock 740 using the power received from the auxiliary device and/or thepower from the battery, for example, after the battery is reconnectedthrough the switch and/or a charge manager circuit. The auxiliary devicemay continue to provide power to the electronic device at block 742, andthe battery reconnected to the charge manager circuit may begin chargingat block 744. During the charging of the electronic device, theauxiliary device may provide a suitable status indicator (e.g., steadygreen light) at block 746 to indicate that the auxiliary device ischarging the electronic device, and, optionally, the electronic devicemay provide a suitable status indicator (e.g., blinking green light) atblock 748 to indicate that the electronic device is being charged. Thereset sequence may complete at block 749 when the auxiliary device andthe electronic device are in the steady charging state.

As shown in FIG. 7C, if the user initiated a hardware shutdown at block716-722, the auxiliary device may, after waiting for a time period T4(e.g., about 3-5 seconds) at block 750, provide a status indicator(e.g., steady or blinking light of a certain color or combination ofcolors) at block 752 indicating that the electronic device is shut downand is not charging, and thus can be safely removed. The statusindicator may signal the user to remove the electronic device from theauxiliary device at block 754 to complete the shutdown sequence at block762. In some embodiments, after providing the status indicator, theauxiliary device may wait for a time period T5 (e.g., about 30 seconds)at block 756, to give user sufficient time to remove the electronicdevice. After waiting for time period T5, the auxiliary device mayre-enable its wireless charge transmitter at block 758 and may provide astatus indicator at block 760 to indicate that the auxiliary device ispowered on and may be ready to charge a device.

FIG. 8 includes a flow diagram 800 illustrating an example of a methodof non-contact hardware reset/shutdown according to certain embodiments.It is noted that the specific operations illustrated in FIG. 8 provide aparticular process of non-contact hardware reset/shutdown. Othersequences of operations may be performed according to alternativeembodiments. Moreover, the individual operations illustrated in FIG. 8may include multiple sub-steps that may be performed in varioussequences as appropriate to the individual operation. Furthermore,additional operations may be added as shown in, for example, FIGS.6A-7B, or some operations may not be performed depending on theparticular applications. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize many variations, modifications, and alternatives. Theoperations described in flow diagram 800 may be performed by, forexample, system 100, 300, 400, or 500 described above, first assembly910 of medical device 900, charging device 1000, or electronic device1200 described below.

Operations at block 810 may include enabling the charging of anelectronic device by, for example, enabling a charging transmitter of anauxiliary device. In some embodiments, the charging transmitter may be awired charging transmitter, and the electronic device may be plugged tothe auxiliary device or connected to the auxiliary device using a cable.In some embodiments, the charging transmitter may be a wireless chargingtransmitter, and the electronic device may be placed on, docked to,engaged with, or otherwise placed in the vicinity of the auxiliarydevice, where the wireless power signal transmitting coil (e.g.,wireless power signal transmitting coil 352, 452, or 552) of theauxiliary device may be aligned with the wireless charge receiving coil(e.g., coil 332, 432, or 532) of the electronic device, and the wirelesscontrol signal transmitter (e.g., electromagnetic coil 344, IR emitter444, or slidable magnet 544) of the auxiliary device may be aligned withthe non-contact sensor (e.g., Hall-effect sensor 324 or 524, or IRreceiver 424) of the electronic device. As described above, electricpower signals transmitted by the charging transmitter of the auxiliarydevice wirelessly or using a wire may be used to charge the battery, forexample, through a charging interface (e.g., an input port, a coil, awireless charge receiver, and/or a charge manager circuit), and may alsobe used to power circuits for controlling the shutdown of the electronicdevice, such as the non-contact sensor and the control circuits (e.g.,the reset/shutdown timer(s)). In some embodiments, the auxiliary deviceand/or the electronic device may provide a status indication, such asthe illumination of a particular number, color, and/or pattern (e.g.,steady or blinking) of LEDs.

Operations at block 820 may include receiving a user input at theauxiliary device that may have one or more user interface features forreceiving user inputs. As described above, the one or more userinterface features may include one or more buttons, one or moreswitches, a touch screen, a sliding magnet, or a combination thereof. Inone example, the one or more user interface features may include onebutton or switch, where actuating the button or switch for a first timeperiod may indicates a first user instruction (e.g., hardware reset) andactuating the button or switch for a second time period may indicate asecond user instruction (e.g., hardware shutdown). In another example,the one or more user interface features may include at least twobuttons, where actuating a first one of the two buttons may indicate afirst user instruction (e.g., hardware shutdown), and actuating a secondone of the two buttons or both of the two buttons may indicate a seconduser instruction (e.g., hardware reset). In yet another example, the oneor more user interface features may include a slidable magnet, wheresliding the slidable magnet for a first number of times may indicate afirst user instruction and sliding the slidable magnet for a secondnumber of times may indicate a second user instruction, or holding theslidable magnet at a first position for a first time period may indicatea first user instruction and holding the slidable magnet at a firstposition for a second time period may indicate a second userinstruction.

Optional operations at block 830 may include determining a userinstruction based on the user input. For example, the microcontroller ofthe auxiliary device may determine whether the user requests a hardwarereset or a hardware shutdown of the electronic device, based on themanner in which the user actuates the one or more user interfacefeatures as described in detail above and below.

In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may, in response to the userinstruction, enable a wireless control signal transmitter of theauxiliary device to transmit a wireless control signal for shutting downthe electronic device at block 840. As described above, the wirelesscontrol signal transmitter may include, for example, an electromagneticcoil that can generate a magnet field when a current is applied, an IRtransmitter that may transmit steady or pulsed IR light, or aradio-frequency (RF) transmitter configured to transmit RF signals. Theauxiliary device may enable the wireless control signal transmitter by,for example, closing a relay to provide power to the wireless controlsignal transmitter, and/or provide control signals for generatingdesired signals. In some embodiments, the wireless control signal may bethe same for hardware shutdown and hardware reset. In some embodiments,different wireless control signals may be used for hardware shutdown andhardware reset. In some embodiments, operations at block 840 may not beneeded, and the user input at block 820 may be detected by theelectronic device. For example, as described above with respect to FIGS.5 and 7A-7C, sliding a magnet may cause magnetic field changes that maybe detected by Hall-effect sensors on both the auxiliary device and theelectronic device.

Operations at block 842 may include receiving, by the electronic device,the wireless control signal from the auxiliary device. For example, theelectronic device may include a non-contact sensor, such as aHall-effect sensor or an IR receiver/demodulator that may detect themagnetic field or the IR signal. In some embodiments, the non-contactsensor may detect the wireless control signal only when the amplitudeand/or the duration of the wireless control signal are greater thancertain threshold values, to avoid false detection. The non-contactsensor may send the detected signal or a trigger signal to a controlcircuit after detecting the wireless control signal.

In some embodiments, the electronic device may determine an instruction(e.g., hardware reset or hardware shutdown) associated with the wirelesscontrol signal at block 844, for example, based on the amplitude,duration, and/or pattern of the wireless control signal, and maygenerate a trigger signal based on the determined instruction. In someembodiments, a trigger signal may be generated by the on-contact sensorupon detecting the wireless control signal, and the operations at block844 may not be performed.

Operations at block 846 may include opening, in response to receivingthe wireless control signal and after a first time delay (may bepredetermined and programmed), a switch to disconnect a system load ofthe electronic device from a battery of the electronic device. Forexample, the trigger signal generated by the non-contact sensor or othercircuits of the electronic device may trigger a reset/shutdown timer.The reset/shutdown timer may include, for example, a clock (e.g., aclock oscillator) and a counter that may count up or down, until acertain counter value is reached. After the first delay time expires,the reset/shutdown timer may generate a control signal to open theswitch (e.g., through a battery protection circuit), therebydisconnecting the battery from the system load and a charge managercircuit.

Operations at block 850 may include disabling the wireless chargingtransmitter after a second time delay (e.g., after the system load ofthe electronic device is powered down). The auxiliary device may disablethe wireless charging transmitter by opening a switch (e.g., switch 342,442, or 542) to stop providing power to the wireless chargingtransmitter. In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may also disablethe wireless control signal transmitter. Since the wireless chargingtransmitter of the auxiliary device is disabled and the battery isdisconnected, the electronic device may be completely shut down.

Operations at block 860 may include performing, by the auxiliary devicebased on the user instruction, signaling a user to remove the electronicdevice from the auxiliary device, or reenabling the wireless chargingtransmitter to transmit the wireless power signals to the electronicdevice to restart the electronic device. For example, if the userinstruction is a hardware shutdown of the electronic device, theauxiliary device may provide an indication (e.g., an illuminationpattern of one or more LEDs) that the electronic device is powered downand is not charged, and thus may be removed. Therefore, the user mayremove and store the electronic device that is shut down to save power.If the user instruction is a hardware reset of the electronic device,the auxiliary device may reenable the wireless charging transmitter totransmit wireless power signals to the electronic device to restart theelectronic device.

As described above, the electronic devices disclosed herein may be areusable assembly of a wearable medical device that may be attached to apatient’s body (e.g., using a patch or a band) or otherwise carried bythe patient. The medical device may include another assembly that may befor one-time use only and may need to replaced or refilled after use. Inone example, the medical device may include an infusion pump fordelivering therapeutic fluid to the patient.

FIGS. 9A-9C are perspective view, exploded perspective view, and topview, respectively, of an example of a medical device 900 according tocertain embodiments. In the illustrated example, medical device 900 maybe an infusion pump that may be attachable to a user’s body to deliverytherapeutic fluid (e.g., insulin) to the user. Medical device 900 mayinclude a first assembly 910 and a second assembly 920. First assembly910 and second assembly 920 may be detachably engaged using certainmatching features on first assembly 910 and second assembly 920 asdescribed in detail below. First assembly 910 may be an example ofelectronic device 120, 204, 320, 420, or 520 described above, and may bereused for controlling the delivery of the therapeutic fluid (e.g.,insulin) to the user. Second assembly 920 may be a disposable portionthat may include a reservoir storing the therapeutic fluid, and may bereplaced, for example, when the reservoir is empty. In another example,medical device 900 may be an analyte sensor that may be used to measureanalyte in the user’s body, such as interstitial glucose, where firstassembly 910 may include the sensor electronics, such as processors andtransmitters, while second assembly 920 may include a portion (e.g.,sensor electrodes) that may be inserted into the user’s body.

First assembly 910 may include components and circuits described abovewith respect to, for example, FIGS. 1 and 3-5 , and thus may be capableof non-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset. In the illustratedexample, first assembly 910 may include a housing 912 (e.g., housing321, 421, or 521) enclosing a battery assembly 921 (e.g., including arechargeable or non-rechargeable battery); one or more capacitors orother energy storage 922; and a system load (e.g., system load 330, 430,or 530) including, for example, an MCU 923, a coil assembly 924 (whichmay function as a motor stator), a drive circuit for a motor, and one ormore sensors 925 (e.g., temperature sensor, Hall-effect sensor, or othersuitable sensors). In some embodiments, housing 912 may also include anon-contact sensor 926 (e.g., Hall-effect sensor 324 or 524, or IRreceiver 424) and a switch 928 (e.g., switch 326, 426, or 526) operableto disconnect battery assembly 921 from other components and circuits offirst assembly 910, thus enabling non-contact hardware shutdown and/orreset as detailed above. In some embodiments, a timer circuit 930 (e.g.,reset/shutdown timer circuit 325, 425, or 525) may be disposed betweennon-contact sensor 926 and switch 928. A wireless charge receiving coil932 (e.g., coil 332, 432, or 532) may also be provided to facilitatewireless charging of battery assembly 921. It is noted the positions ofthe components of first assembly 910 shown in FIGS. 9A-9C are forillustration purposes only. In various embodiments, the components offirst assembly 910 may be arranged and placed differently. Even thoughnot shown in FIGS. 9A-9C, first assembly 910 may include additionalinternal circuitry facilitating non-contact hardware shutdown and/orreset as detailed above with respect to, for example, FIG. 3 -7B.

In the illustrated example, second assembly 920 may include a baseplate942 supporting a magnetic motor rotor 944 (e.g., configured to bewirelessly driven by coil assembly 924), a gear train 946 including alead screw drive gear 978, and a lead screw 980 attached to a plunger982, which may be positioned in a medicament reservoir 984 and may beconfigured to drive medicament out of medicament reservoir 984. A cover940 may cooperate with baseplate 942 to enclose some or all of magneticmotor rotor 944, gear train 946 (including lead screw drive gear 978),lead screw 980, plunger 982, and medicament reservoir 984. Medicamentreservoir 984 may be, for example, prefilled with therapeutic fluid ofvarious types and/or volumes, depending upon a patient use profile. Aconnector 976 may be fluidly connected to the output of medicamentreservoir 984, for example, for filling medicament reservoir 984, forattaching a cannula for “patch-pump” type configurations, for connecting(directly or indirectly) an infusion set for “pocket-pump” typeconfigurations, and the like.

First assembly 910 and second assembly 920, as noted above, may bereleasably engageable with one another. In some embodiments, firstassembly 910 and second assembly 920 may be integrated as a singleassembly or unit that is wholly disposable or wholly durable. Inreleasably engageable configurations, housing 912 of first assembly 910may include a top wall 952, bottom walls 954 a and 954 b, and a sidewall 956 that cooperate to define a relatively thin portion 950 and arelatively thick portion 958, with an indentation 960 formed inrelatively thick portion 958. In some embodiments, housing 912 of firstassembly 910 may include a recess 936. Cover 940 of second assembly 920may be complementary to housing 912 and may include top walls 964 a and964 b and a side wall 974 that cooperate to define a relatively thincover portion 966 and a relatively thick cover portion 962. In someembodiments as shown in FIG. 9B, a portion of baseplate 942 may not becovered by cover 940, thereby forming a recess 970 bordered by a wall972 extending around baseplate 942. In some embodiments, cover 940 ofsecond assembly 920 may include a projection 968.

When first assembly 910 and second assembly 920 are engaged with oneanother, the relatively thick portion 958 of housing 912 may be receivedin recess 970 of second assembly 920 with wall 972 extending intoindentation 960. In some embodiments, relatively thin portion 950 ofhousing 912 may reside on top wall 964 b of cover 940. In someembodiments, projection 968 of cover 940 may mate with recess 936 onhousing 912. Thus, in the engaged condition, the complementary featuresof first assembly 910 and second assembly 920 may form a substantiallycontinuous outer enclosure of medical device 900, for example, in asubstantially rectangular, square, circular, or oval shape.

In some embodiments, medical device 900 may be used in conjunction witha wide variety of remote control devices (not shown in FIGS. 9A-9C),which may be implemented as dedicated devices or applications running onmulti-function devices such as, for example, personal electronic devicesincluding smartphones, tablets, laptops, and the like. The remotecontrol devices may be used to, for example, allow the user to transmitinstructions to first assembly 910 or second assembly 920, or otherwisefacilitate communication between first assembly 910 and the user (e.g.,to transfer system data, patient data, use data, other data and metrics,alarms, warnings, etc.). Medical device 900, in the form an infusionpump and including various alternative and additional aspects andfeatures thereof, is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No.10,159,786, the entire content of which is herein incorporated byreference.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an example of a system including anelectronic device and an auxiliary device according to certainembodiments. In the illustrated example, the electronic device may befirst assembly 910 of medical device 900 of FIGS. 9A-9C, and theauxiliary device may be a charging device 1000 with a shape similar tosecond assembly 920 of medical device 900. Therefore, charging device1000 may engage with first assembly 910 of medical device 900 (e.g., aninfusion pump) to form a system with a substantially continuous outerenclosure, as shown in FIG. 10 .

As second assembly 920 of medical device 900, charging device 1000 mayinclude a body 1002 configured similarly as cover 940 of second assembly920. Therefore, body 1002 may have features complementary to features ofhousing 912 of first assembly 910, and may engage with housing 912 in amanner similar to the engagement of first assembly 910 with secondassembly 920 shown in FIGS. 9A-9C. Charging device 1000 may include anon-contact signal transmitter 1010 configured to be positioned adjacentto non-contact sensor 926 of first assembly 910 when first assembly 910is engaged with charging device 1000. Charging device 1000 may alsoinclude one or more user interface features 1040 and 1050, such asbuttons, and an MCU 1020, thereby enabling initiation of non-contacthardware shutdown and/or reset of first assembly 910 similarly asdetailed above with respect to FIGS. 1-8 . Charging device 1000 mayfurther include a wireless charge transmitting coil 1030 configured foralignment with wireless charge receiving coil 932 of first assembly 910to enable wireless power transfer therebetween to charge and/or powerfirst assembly 910. Even though not shown in FIG. 10 , charging device1000 may include additional internal control circuitry facilitatingnon-contact hardware shutdown and/or reset as detailed above. Chargingdevice 1000 may include an input port 1004 (e.g., input port 360, 460,or 560) configured to receive a cable 1060 (e.g., a USB cable) that maybe connected to a wall outlet or an adapter to provide power to chargingdevice 1000.

In some embodiments, the non-contact sensor on the electronic device maybe replaced by one or more suitable user interfaces, such as a smallbutton within a recess that may be pressed using, for example, a pin, orother features that may not be accidentally actuated. In suchembodiments, non-contact signal transmitters may not be used in theauxiliary devices. A user may manually initiate reset or shutdown usingthe user interfaces on the electronic device.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a system 1100 including an electronicdevice 1120 and a charging device 1140 according to certain embodiments.System 1100 may be similar to system 300, 400, or 500, and may includemany features and components similar to or same as correspondingfeatures and components of system 300, 400, or 500. Thus, onlydifferences between system 1100 and system 400 are described in detailhereinbelow while similarities are summarily described or omittedentirely.

In system 1100, electronic device 1120 (e.g., a reusable portion of amedical device, such as first assembly 910 of medical device 900) mayinclude one or more user interfaces (e.g., buttons) that can receiveuser request for hardware reset or shutdown. Electronic device 1120 mayinclude a wireless power signal receiver, and a rechargeable batterythat may be charged through the wireless power signal receiver whenelectronic device 1120 is engaged with charging device 1140. Therefore,electronic device 1120 may perform hardware shutdown and/or reset bydisconnecting and/or reconnecting the rechargeable battery using powerreceived by the wireless power signal receiver from charging device1140, and charging device 1140 may not need to include user interfacesfor receiving user instructions for hardware shutdown and/or reset, andcircuitry for initiating the hardware shutdown/reset of electronicdevice 1120. Electronic device 1120 and charging device 1140 may includecomplementary engaging features as described above with respect to FIG.9A-10, and thus may form a substantially contiguous enclosure and mayalign properly when they are engaged to chare electronic device 1120.

In the illustrated example, electronic device 1120 may include a housing1121 and, enclosed therein: a battery assembly including a battery 1122having one or more battery cells, and a battery protection circuit 1123;buttons 1124 and 1128; a shutdown timer circuit 1125; a reset timercircuit 1127; a switch 1126; a system load 1130; a wireless chargingantenna (e.g., a coil 1132); a wireless charge receiver 1134; a chargemanager circuit 1136; or a combination thereof. Electronic device 1120may be similar to electronic device 420 of FIG. 4 , except thatelectronic device 1120 may include button 1124, button 1128, shutdowntimer circuit 1125, and reset timer circuit 1127, rather than an IRreceiver 424 and a reset/shutdown timer circuit 425. Other componentsand features of electronic device 1120 may be similar to or same asother components and features of electronic device 420. Shutdown timercircuit 1125 and reset timer circuit 1127 are powered by wireless chargereceiver 1134 and/or charge manager circuit 1136, rather than a battery(e.g., battery 1122), and thus may only be functional when electronicdevice 1120 is charged. Since shutdown timer circuit 1125 and resettimer circuit 1127 are not powered by a battery, they would not befunctional during normal operation of electronic device 1120 or whenelectronic device 1120 is otherwise not charged. As such, during normaloperation of electronic device 1120 (not charged), shutdown timercircuit 1125 and reset timer circuit 1127 may not be operational andthus may not accidentally, unintentionally, or other inadvertently shutdown/reset electronic device 1120.

Charging device 1140 may include a body 1141 and, included thereon ortherein: one or more switches 1142; one or more optional user interfaceswhich may be in the form of one or more buttons 1148 (and the underlyingswitches); an output interface including, for example, one or more LEDs1150; a wireless power signal transmitting coil 1152; a wireless chargetransmitter circuit 1154; an MCU 1156; a voltage regulator circuit 1158;an input port 1160 (e.g., a USB port); or a combination thereof.Charging device 1140 may be similar to auxiliary device 440 of FIG. 4 ,but may not include IR emitter 444, and buttons 1148 may be used forother purposes, rather than for initiating hardware reset or shutdown ofelectronic device 1120.

In system 1100, user may place electronic device 1120 on or close tocharging device 1140, and may use buttons 1124 and/or 1128 to initiatehardware reset or shutdown of electronic device 1120. For example, theuser may press and hold button 1124 to initiate a shutdown of electronicdevice 1120, where the shutdown request received at button 1124 maytrigger shutdown timer circuit 1125 to count. Shutdown timer circuit1125 may generate a signal to open switch 1126 through batteryprotection circuit 1123, after the shutdown timer expires. When the userpresses and holds both buttons 1124 and 1128, a hardware reset may beinitiated, where a reset timer circuit 1127 may be triggered to startcounting. Reset timer circuit 1127 may generate a first signal to openswitch 1126 through battery protection circuit 1123 to shut downelectronic device 1120 after a first time delay, and may generate asecond signal after a second time delay to close switch 1126 throughbattery protection circuit 1123 to restart electronic device 1120.

FIG. 12 is block diagram of an example of an electronic device 1200 thatmay implement some of the examples disclosed herein. Electronic device1200 may be, for example, a part of an infusion pump that may be reusedfor controlling the delivery of therapeutic fluid (e.g., insulin) to auser, or may be a reusable part of an analyte sensor (e.g., a continuousglucose monitor) for calculating, displaying, and/or transmittingmeasured analyte levels in the user’s body. Electronic device 1200 maybe used independently or may be engaged with, for example, a pump orsensor electrodes, and may be attached to a user’s body using, forexample, a band or a sticking patch.

Electronic device 1200 may include a system load 1202 that may include,for example, a processing unit 1210, a memory device 1220 withinstructions 1222 stored thereon, an optional communication subsystem1230, one or more antennas 1234, and an optional actuator controller1240. Electronic device 1200 may include one or more sensors 1250, anoptional I/O user interface 1260, a power management circuit 1270, and abattery 1280. Electronic device 1200 may include other components andcircuits for specific applications not shown in FIG. 12 . For example,in some embodiments, electronic device 1200 may also include additionalcircuits for hardware shutdown and/or reset as described above.

Processing unit 1210 may include without limitation one or more centralprocessing units, microprocessors, microcontrollers, special-purposeprocessors (e.g., digital signal processors). Processing unit 1210 maybe configured to execute instructions 1222 stored in memory device 1220to perform one or more of the methods described herein and otherapplications. Memory device 1220 may include one or more transitoryand/or non-transitory storage devices, such as, for example, a staticrandom access memory (SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), aread-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmableread-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory(EPROM), a FLASH-EPROM, a secure digital (SD) card, and any other memorychip or cartridge. Such storage devices may be configured to implementany appropriate data stores, including without limitation, various filesystems, data structures, computer-readable instructions, programmodules, and the like.

Communication subsystem 1230 may include, for example, an infraredcommunication device, a wireless communication device and/or chipset(such as a Bluetooth® device, an IEEE 802.11 device, a Wi-Fi device, aWiMax device, cellular communication devices, etc.), and/or similarcommunication interfaces. One or more antennas 1234 may be used forwireless communication as part of communication subsystem 1230 or as aseparate component coupled to any portion of electronic device 1200,such as a wireless charging receiver or a near-field communicationreceiver. In some embodiments, communication subsystem 1230 may includecircuits for wired communication technologies, such as Ethernet, coaxialcommunications, universal serial bus (USB), and the like. Communicationssubsystem 1230 may permit data to be exchanged with a network, othercomputer systems, and/or any other devices. For example, communicationssubsystem 1230 may be used to receive therapy determinations fortherapeutic fluid (e.g., insulin) delivery, such as from a cloudcomputing system via an intermediary computing device (e.g., acontroller) communicatively coupled to electronic device 1200, whereprocessing unit 1210 may, based on the therapy determinations, sendcommands to actuator controller 1240 to cause the delivery ofappropriate amounts of therapeutic fluid (e.g., insulin) to a user. Inanother example, communications subsystem 1230 may be used tocommunicate measurement results (e.g., sensor glucose levels) to acomputing device (e.g., a smartphone or a personal health monitoringdevice) and/or to a remote server via the computing device, or receivedata (e.g., calibration data, configuration data, etc.) from thecomputing device or the remote server via the computing device.

Actuator controller 1240 may include control or drive circuits that areused to control, for example, a pump, a motor for moving a plunger todelivery therapeutic fluid, a switch, or other moveable parts. Sensor(s)1250 may include, for example, an infrared sensor, an accelerometer, apressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a proximity sensor, amagnetometer, a gyroscope, an inertial sensor (e.g., an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU)), an ambient light sensor, a position sensor, adepth sensor, or any other similar module operable to provide sensoryoutput and/or receive sensory input.

Input/output user interface 1260 may allow a user to send actionrequests to electronic device 1200 to perform particular actions, andmay provide information (e.g., status of electronic device 1200,measurement results, alerts, etc.) to the user. Input/output userinterface 1260 may include one or more input devices, such as, forexample, a touchscreen, a touch pad, microphone(s), button(s), dial(s),switch(es), or any other suitable device for receiving action requestsand communicating the received action requests to processing unit 1210.In some embodiments, input/output user interface 1260 may include one ormore output devices, such as a speaker, a light emitting device, ahaptic device, and the like, to provide feedback or alarm to the user.

Battery 1280 may be a rechargeable or non-rechargeable battery, and mayinclude one or more battery cells or other energy storing devices (e.g.,capacitors). Power management circuit 1270 may be used to receive powerfrom external devices, such as a charger or a power adaptor, and providepower at appropriate voltage levels to other components and circuits ofelectronic device 1200. Power management circuit 1270 may also managethe charging of battery 1280. In some embodiments, power managementcircuit 1270 may include circuits and components for hardware shutdownand/or reset as described above.

In one example, electronic device 1200 may be part of an insulindelivery device (e.g., a pump) that can deliver fast-acting insulinthrough a small tube configured for fluidic connection with a cannulainserted subcutaneously. Electronic device 1200 may cause the deliveryof two types of dosages—a basal dosage, which can be deliveredperiodically (e.g., every five minutes) in tiny amounts throughout theday and night, and a bolus dosage to cover an increase in blood glucosefrom meals and/or to correct high blood glucose levels. The insulindelivery device may include a user interface having button elements thatcan be manipulated to administer a bolus of insulin, to change therapysettings, to change user preferences, to select display features, andthe like. The insulin delivery device may also include a display devicethat can be used to present various types of information or data to theuser. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a user ofthe insulin delivery device may use the button elements to input certainevent data (e.g., event type, event start time, event details, etc.),and the user inputs can be confirmed using the display device.

The embodiments disclosed herein are examples of the disclosure and maybe embodied in various forms. For instance, although certain embodimentsherein are described as separate embodiments, each of the embodimentsherein may be combined with one or more of the other embodiments herein.Specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not tobe interpreted as limiting, but as a basis for the claims and as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present disclosure in virtually any appropriately detailedstructure. Like reference numerals may refer to like elements throughoutthe description of the figures.

Any of the herein described techniques, operations, methods, programs,algorithms, or codes may be converted to, or expressed in, a programminglanguage or computer program embodied on a computer, processor, ormachine-readable medium. The terms “programming language” and “computerprogram,” as used herein, each include any language used to specifyinstructions to a computer or processor, and include (but is not limitedto) the following languages and their derivatives: Assembler, Basic,Batch files, BCPL, C, C+, C++, Delphi, Fortran, Java, JavaScript,machine code, operating system command languages, Pascal, Perl, PL1,Python, scripting languages, Visual Basic, metalanguages whichthemselves specify programs, and all first, second, third, fourth,fifth, or further generation computer languages. Also included aredatabase and other data schemas, and any other meta-languages. Nodistinction is made between languages which are interpreted, compiled,or use both compiled and interpreted approaches. No distinction is madebetween compiled and source versions of a program. Thus, reference to aprogram, where the programming language could exist in more than onestate (such as source, compiled, object, or linked) is a reference toany and all such states. Reference to a program may encompass the actualinstructions and/or the intent of those instructions.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the present disclosure. To the extent consistent, any orall of the aspects detailed herein may be used in conjunction with anyor all of the other aspects detailed herein. Various alternatives andmodifications can be devised by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the disclosure. Accordingly, the present disclosure isintended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variances.The embodiments described with reference to the attached drawing figuresare presented only to demonstrate certain examples of the disclosure.Other elements, steps, methods, and techniques that are insubstantiallydifferent from those described above and/or in the appended claims arealso intended to be within the scope of the disclosure.

While several embodiments of the disclosure have been depicted in thedrawings, it is not intended that the disclosure be limited thereto, asit is intended that the disclosure be as broad in scope as the art willallow and that the specification be read likewise. Therefore, the abovedescription should not be construed as limiting, but merely asexemplifications of particular embodiments. Those skilled in the artwill envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of theclaims appended hereto. The aspects and features of the presentdisclosure and may be embodied in various forms. Thus, specificstructural and functional details disclosed herein are not to beinterpreted as limiting, but as a basis for the claims and as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present disclosure in virtually any appropriately detailedstructure.

With reference to the appended figures, components that can includememory can include non-transitory machine-readable media. The term“machine-readable medium,” “processor-readable medium,” and“computer-readable medium” may refer to any storage medium thatparticipates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in aspecific fashion. In embodiments provided hereinabove, variousmachine-readable media might be involved in providing instructions/codeto processing units and/or other device(s) for execution. Additionallyor alternatively, the machine-readable media might be used to storeand/or carry such instructions/code. In many implementations, acomputer-readable medium is a physical and/or tangible storage medium.Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Common formsof computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic and/or opticalmedia such as compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), punchcards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, aRAM, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM), a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read instructions and/or code. A computerprogram product may include code and/or machine-executable instructionsthat may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, aroutine, an application (App), a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signalsused to communicate the messages described herein may be representedusing any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. Forexample, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits,symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the abovedescription may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagneticwaves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or anycombination thereof.

Terms “and” and “or,” as used herein, may include a variety of meaningsthat are also expected to depend at least in part upon the context inwhich such terms are used. In general, “or” if used to associate a list,such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in theinclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, here used in the exclusivesense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein may be used todescribe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular ormay be used to describe some combination of features, structures, orcharacteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely anillustrative example and claimed subject matter is not limited to thisexample. Furthermore, the term “at least one of” if used to associate alist, such as A, B, or C, can be interpreted to mean A, B, C, or anycombination of A, B, and/or C, such as AB, AC, BC, AA, ABC, AAB,AABBCCC, or the like.

Further, while certain embodiments have been described using aparticular combination of hardware and software, it should be recognizedthat other combinations of hardware and software are also possible.Certain embodiments may be implemented only in hardware, or only insoftware, or using combinations thereof. In one example, software may beimplemented with a computer program product containing computer programcode or instructions executable by one or more processors for performingany or all of the steps, operations, or processes described in thisdisclosure, where the computer program may be stored on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium. The various processes described herein can beimplemented on the same processor or different processors in anycombination.

Where devices, systems, components or modules are described as beingconfigured to perform certain operations or functions, suchconfiguration can be accomplished, for example, by designing electroniccircuits to perform the operation, by programming programmableelectronic circuits (such as microprocessors) to perform the operationsuch as by executing computer instructions or code, or processors orcores programmed to execute code or instructions stored on anon-transitory memory medium, or any combination thereof. Processes cancommunicate using a variety of techniques, including, but not limitedto, conventional techniques for inter-process communications, anddifferent pairs of processes may use different techniques, or the samepair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modificationsand changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broaderspirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specificembodiments have been described, these are not intended to be limiting.Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

In view of this description, embodiments may include differentcombinations of features. Implementation examples are described in thefollowing numbered clauses:

Clause 1. A system comprising:

-   an auxiliary device comprising: a charging transmitter configured to    transmit electric power signals; an input user interface configured    to receive a user input; a wireless control signal transmitter    configured to transmit wireless control signals; and a    microcontroller unit (MCU) configured to, in response to the user    input, enable the wireless control signal transmitter to transmit a    wireless control signal; and-   an electronic device comprising: a battery; a system load; a switch    in an electrical connection path between the battery and the system    load; a non-contact sensor configured to detect the wireless control    signal; a control circuit configured to, in response to the detected    wireless control signal, open the switch to disconnect the battery    and the system load; and a charging interface configured to receive    the electric power signals from the auxiliary device, wherein the    control circuit and the non-contact sensor are powered through the    charging interface rather than the battery.

Clause 2. The system of Clause 1, wherein: the charging transmitter ofthe auxiliary device is configured to transmit wireless power signals;and the charging interface of the electronic device includes a wirelesscharge receiver.

Clause 3. The system of Clause 1 or 2, wherein the wireless controlsignal transmitter includes: an electromagnetic coil configured togenerate a magnetic field; an infrared light source configured to emitsteady infrared light or infrared light pulses; or a radio-frequency(RF) transmitter configured to transit an RF signal.

Clause 4. The system of any of Clauses 1-3, wherein the input userinterface includes one or more buttons, one or more switches, a touchscreen, or a combination thereof.

Clause 5. The system of any of Clauses 1-4, wherein: the input userinterface includes a button or switch; actuating the button or switchfor a first time period indicates a first user instruction; andactuating the button or switch for a second time period indicates asecond user instruction.

Clause 6. The system of any of Clauses 1-4, wherein: the input userinterface includes two buttons; actuating a first one of the two buttonsindicates a first user instruction; and actuating a second one of thetwo buttons or both of the two buttons indicates a second userinstruction.

Clause 7. The system of any of Clauses 1-6, wherein the MCU isconfigured to:

-   in response to the user input being an instruction for a hardware    shutdown of the electronic device: enable the wireless control    signal transmitter; disable the charge transmitter after a first    time delay; disable the wireless control signal transmitter after a    second time delay; and signal, via an output user interface, a user    to disengage the electronic device and the auxiliary device; and-   in response to the user input being an instruction for a hardware    reset of the electronic device: enable the wireless control signal    transmitter; disable the charge transmitter after a third time    delay; disable the wireless control signal transmitter after a    fourth time delay; and enable the charge transmitter to transmit the    electric power signals again after a fifth time delay.

Clause 8. The system of any of Clauses 1-7, wherein the non-contactsensor includes a Hall-effect sensor or an infrared light sensor.

Clause 9. The system of any of Clauses 1-8, wherein the control circuitincludes a timing circuit configured to control a time delay afterdetecting the wireless control signal and before opening the switch.

Clause 10. The system of any of Clauses 1-9, wherein the electronicdevice includes a charge manager circuit between the switch and thesystem load, the charge manager circuit coupled to the charginginterface and configured to: select the charging interface or thebattery for powering the system load; or charge the battery, via theswitch, using electric power from the charging interface.

Clause 11. The system of any of Clauses 1-10, wherein: the electronicdevice is a first assembly of a medical device, the electronic deviceincluding mechanical features complementary to mechanical features of asecond assembly of the medical device such that the electronic device isreleasably engageable with the second assembly of the medical device;the auxiliary device includes the mechanical features of the secondassembly of the medical device such that the auxiliary device isreleasably engageable with the electronic device; and the wirelesscontrol signal transmitter and the non-contact sensor are aligned whenthe electronic device and the auxiliary device are engaged.

Clause 12. The system of any of Clauses 1-11, wherein the auxiliarydevice includes an output user interface configured to indicate statusof the auxiliary device.

Clause 13. A method comprising: enabling a wireless charging transmitterof an auxiliary device to transmit wireless power signals to anelectronic device; receiving a user input at the auxiliary device;enabling, in response to the user input, a wireless control signaltransmitter of the auxiliary device to transmit a wireless controlsignal for shutting down the electronic device; receiving, by theelectronic device, the wireless control signal from the auxiliarydevice; opening, in response to receiving the wireless control signaland after a first time delay, a switch to disconnect a system load ofthe electronic device from a battery of the electronic device; disablingthe wireless charging transmitter after a second time delay; andperforming, by the auxiliary device based on the user input, signaling auser to remove the electronic device from the auxiliary device; orreenabling the wireless charging transmitter to transmit the wirelesspower signals to the electronic device to restart the electronic device.

Clause 14. The method of Clause 13, wherein the wireless control signalincludes a magnetic field signal, an infrared light signal, or aradio-frequency signal.

Clause 15. The method of Clause 13 or 14, further comprising determininga user instruction based on a duration of the user input, an inputdevice that receives the user input, or both the duration and the inputdevice.

Clause 16. The method of any of Clauses 13-15, further comprisinggenerating, by a timer circuit after the first time delay, a controlsignal for opening the switch.

Clause 17. A system comprising: an auxiliary device comprising acharging transmitter configured to transmit electric power signals; andan electronic device comprising: a battery; a system load; a switch inan electrical connection path between the battery and the system load;an input user interface configured to receive a user input; a controlcircuit configured to control the switch in response to receiving theuser input; and a charging interface configured to receive the electricpower signals from the auxiliary device, wherein the control circuit ispowered through the charging interface rather than the battery; whereinthe electronic device is a first assembly of a medical device, theelectronic device including mechanical features complementary tomechanical features of a second assembly of the medical device such thatthe electronic device is releasably engageable with the second assemblyof the medical device; and wherein the auxiliary device includes themechanical features of the second assembly of the medical device suchthat the auxiliary device is releasably engageable with the electronicdevice.

Clause 18. The system of Clause 17, wherein: the input user interfaceincludes two buttons; actuating a first one of the two buttons indicatesa first user instruction; and actuating a second one of the two buttonsor both of the two buttons indicates a second user instruction.

Clause 19. The system of Clause 17 or 18, wherein: the control circuitincludes two timer circuits; a first timer circuit of the two timercircuits is configured to generate a first switch control signal to openthe switch after a first time delay; and a second timer circuit of thetwo timer circuits is configured to generate a second switch controlsignal to close the switch after a second time delay.

Clause 20. The system of any of Clauses 17-19, wherein the electronicdevice includes a charge manager circuit between the switch and thesystem load, the charge manager circuit coupled to the charginginterface and configured to: select the charging interface or thebattery for powering the system load; or charge the battery, via theswitch, using electric power from the charging interface.

Clause 21. An auxiliary device comprising: a charge transmitterconfigured to transmit electric power signals; an input user interfacefor receiving a user input; a wireless control signal transmitterconfigured to transmit wireless control signals; and a microcontrollerunit (MCU) configured to: determine a user instruction based on the userinput; enable, in response to the user instruction, the wireless controlsignal transmitter to transmit a wireless control signal; and controlthe charge transmitter to selectively transmit the electric powersignals according to a timing sequence selected based on the userinstruction.

Clause 22. The auxiliary device of Clause 21, wherein the chargetransmitter includes a wireless charging transmitter.

Clause 23. The auxiliary device of Clause 21 or 22, wherein the inputuser interface includes one or more buttons, one or more switches, atouch screen, or a combination thereof.

Clause 24. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 21-23, wherein: theinput user interface includes a button or switch; actuating the buttonor switch for a first time period indicates a first user instruction;and actuating the button or switch for a second time period indicates asecond user instruction.

Clause 25. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 21-23, wherein: theinput user interface includes two buttons; actuating a first one of thetwo buttons indicates a first user instruction; and actuating a secondone of the two buttons or both of the two buttons indicates a seconduser instruction.

Clause 26. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 21-25, wherein thewireless control signal transmitter includes: an electromagnetic coilconfigured to generate a magnetic field; an infrared light sourceconfigured to emit steady infrared light or infrared light pulses; or aradio-frequency (RF) transmitter configured to transit an RF signal.

Clause 27. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 21-26, wherein theuser instruction includes a hardware shutdown of an electronic device ora hardware reset of the electronic device.

Clause 28. The auxiliary device of Clause 27, wherein the MCU isconfigured to:

-   in response to the user instruction being the hardware shutdown of    the electronic device: enable the wireless control signal    transmitter; disable the charge transmitter after a first time    delay; and signal, via an output user interface, a user to disengage    the electronic device and the auxiliary device; and-   in response to the user instruction being the hardware reset of the    electronic device: enable the wireless control signal transmitter;    disable the charge transmitter after a third time delay; and enable    the charge transmitter to transmit the electric power signals again    after a fourth time delay.

Clause 29. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 21-28, furthercomprising an output user interface for indicating a status of theauxiliary device.

Clause 30. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 21-29, furthercomprising: an input port for receiving electric power from an externalsource; and a switch connecting the input port to the charge transmitteror the wireless control signal transmitter, the switch controlled by theMCU.

Clause 31. An auxiliary device comprising: a charge transmitterconfigured to transmit electric power signals; a slidable magnet; aHall-effect sensor adjacent to the slidable magnet and configured todetect a magnetic field generated by sliding and holding the slidablemagnet at one or more locations; and a microcontroller unit (MCU)configured to: determine a user instruction based on the magnetic field;and control the charge transmitter to selectively transmit the electricpower signals according to a timing sequence selected based on the userinstruction.

Clause 32. The auxiliary device of Clause 31, wherein: sliding theslidable magnet for a first number of times indicates a first userinstruction; and sliding the slidable magnet for a second number oftimes indicates a second user instruction.

Clause 33. The auxiliary device of Clause 31, wherein: holding theslidable magnet at a first position for a first time period indicates afirst user instruction; and holding the slidable magnet at the firstposition for a second time period indicates a second user instruction.

Clause 34. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 31-33, wherein theuser instruction includes a hardware shutdown of an electronic device ora hardware reset of the electronic device.

Clause 35. The auxiliary device of Clause 34, wherein the MCU isconfigured to: in response to the user instruction being the hardwareshutdown of the electronic device: disable the charge transmitter aftera first time delay; and signal, via an output user interface, a user todisengage the electronic device and the auxiliary device; and inresponse to the user instruction being the hardware reset of theelectronic device: disable the charge transmitter after a second timedelay; and enable the charge transmitter to transmit the electric powersignals again after a third time delay.

Clause 36. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 31-35, furthercomprising an output user interface for indicating a status of theauxiliary device.

Clause 37. The auxiliary device of any of Clauses 31-36, furthercomprising: an input port for receiving electric power from an externalsource; and a switch connecting the input port to the chargetransmitter, the switch controlled by the MCU.

Clause 38. A method comprising, at an auxiliary device: enabling awireless charging transmitter to transmit wireless power signals to anelectronic device; receiving a user input; enabling, in response to theuser input, a wireless control signal transmitter to transmit a wirelesscontrol signal for shutting down the electronic device; disabling thewireless charging transmitter after a first time delay; and performing,based on the user input, signaling a user to remove the electronicdevice; or reenabling the wireless charging transmitter to transmit thewireless power signals to the electronic device to restart theelectronic device.

Clause 39. The method of Clause 38, wherein the wireless control signalincludes a magnetic field signal, an infrared light signal, or aradio-frequency signal.

Clause 40. The method of Clause 38 or 39, further comprising determininga user instruction based on a duration of the user input, an inputdevice that receives the user input, or both the duration and the inputdevice.

Clause 41. An electronic device comprising: a battery; a system load; aswitch in an electrical connection path between the battery and thesystem load; a non-contact sensor configured to detect a wirelesscontrol signal associated with an instruction; a control circuitconfigured to, in response to the detected wireless control signal, openthe switch to disconnect the battery and the system load; and a charginginterface configured to receive electric power from an external source,wherein the control circuit and the non-contact sensor are poweredthrough the charging interface rather than the battery.

Clause 42. The electronic device of Clause 41, wherein the controlcircuit includes a timing circuit configured to control a time delayafter detecting the wireless control signal and before opening theswitch.

Clause 43. The electronic device of Clause 42, wherein the timingcircuit includes a clock and a counter.

Clause 44. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-43, wherein thewireless control signal includes a magnetic field signal, and thenon-contact sensor includes a Hall-effect sensor.

Clause 45. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-43, wherein thewireless control signal includes an infrared light signal, and thenon-contact sensor includes an infrared receiver.

Clause 46. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-45, wherein thecharging interface includes a wireless charging receiver.

Clause 47. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-46, furthercomprising a charge manager circuit between the switch and the systemload, the charge manager circuit coupled to the charging interface andconfigured to select the charging interface or the battery for poweringthe system load.

Clause 48. The electronic device of Clause 47, wherein the chargemanager circuit is further configured to charge the battery, via theswitch, using the electric power from the charging interface.

Clause 49. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-48, wherein thenon-contact sensor is configured to distinguish whether the instructionis a hardware reset or a hardware shutdown of the electronic device.

Clause 50. The electronic device of Clause 49, wherein the non-contactsensor is configured to distinguish whether the instruction is thehardware reset or the hardware shutdown of the electronic device basedon: a duration of the wireless control signal; a number of pulses in thewireless control signal; an amplitude of the wireless control signal; orany combination thereof.

Clause 51. The electronic device of Clause 49, wherein the controlcircuit is configured to cause different timing sequences for thehardware reset and the hardware shutdown.

Clause 52. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-51, wherein thecontrol circuit includes a battery protection circuit coupled to thebattery and the switch, the battery protection circuit configured tocontrol the switch.

Clause 53. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-52, wherein: thesystem load includes a microcontroller unit (MCU); and the non-contactsensor, the control circuit, and the switch are independent of the MCU.

Clause 54. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-53, wherein: theelectronic device is a first assembly of an infusion pump; and theelectronic device includes mechanical features complementary tomechanical features of a second assembly of the infusion pump such thatthe electronic device is releasably engageable with the second assemblyof the *infusion pump.

Clause 55. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-54, wherein thesystem load includes a drive circuit of a motor of an infusion pump.

Clause 56. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-53, wherein theelectronic device is a first assembly of an analyte sensor.

Clause 57. The electronic device of any of Clauses 41-56, furthercomprising a hermetic sealed housing devoid of any input user interfacefeatures, the hermetic sealed housing enclosing the battery, the systemload, the switch, the non-contact sensor, the control circuit, and thecharging interface.

Clause 58. A method comprising, at an electronic device: receivingwireless power signals from a charging device to power a non-contactsensor and a control circuit of the electronic device; receiving, by thenon-contact sensor, a wireless control signal from the charging device;generating, by the control circuit in response to the received wirelesscontrol signal and after a first time delay that is greater than 1second, a control signal to open a switch to disconnect a system loadfrom a battery of the electronic device; and ceasing to receive thewireless power signals from the charging device.

Clause 59. The method of Clause 58, further comprising receiving, aftera second time delay, the wireless power signals from the charging deviceagain to restart the system load.

Clause 60. The method of Clause 58 or 59, wherein the wireless controlsignal includes a magnetic field signal, an infrared light signal, or aradio-frequency signal.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: an auxiliary devicecomprising: a charging transmitter configured to transmit electric powersignals; an input user interface configured to receive a user input; awireless control signal transmitter configured to transmit wirelesscontrol signals; and a microcontroller unit (MCU) configured to, inresponse to the user input, enable the wireless control signaltransmitter to transmit a wireless control signal; and an electronicdevice comprising: a battery; a system load; a switch in an electricalconnection path between the battery and the system load; a non-contactsensor configured to detect the wireless control signal; a controlcircuit configured to, in response to the detected wireless controlsignal, open the switch to disconnect the battery and the system load;and a charging interface configured to receive the electric powersignals from the auxiliary device, wherein the control circuit and thenon-contact sensor are powered through the charging interface ratherthan the battery.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein: the chargingtransmitter of the auxiliary device is configured to transmit wirelesspower signals; and the charging interface of the electronic deviceincludes a wireless charge receiver.
 3. The system of claim 1, whereinthe wireless control signal transmitter includes: an electromagneticcoil configured to generate a magnetic field; an infrared light sourceconfigured to emit steady infrared light or infrared light pulses; or aradio-frequency (RF) transmitter configured to transit an RF signal. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the input user interface includes one ormore buttons, one or more switches, a touch screen, or a combinationthereof.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein: the input user interfaceincludes a button or switch; actuating the button or switch for a firsttime period indicates a first user instruction; and actuating the buttonor switch for a second time period indicates a second user instruction.6. The system of claim 1, wherein: the input user interface includes twobuttons; actuating a first one of the two buttons indicates a first userinstruction; and actuating a second one of the two buttons or both ofthe two buttons indicates a second user instruction.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the MCU is configured to: in response to the user inputbeing an instruction for a hardware shutdown of the electronic device:enable the wireless control signal transmitter; disable the chargetransmitter after a first time delay; disable the wireless controlsignal transmitter after a second time delay; and signal, via an outputuser interface, a user to disengage the electronic device and theauxiliary device; and in response to the user input being an instructionfor a hardware reset of the electronic device: enable the wirelesscontrol signal transmitter; disable the charge transmitter after a thirdtime delay; disable the wireless control signal transmitter after afourth time delay; and enable the charge transmitter to transmit theelectric power signals again after a fifth time delay.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the non-contact sensor includes a Hall-effect sensor oran infrared light sensor.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the controlcircuit includes a timing circuit configured to control a time delayafter detecting the wireless control signal and before opening theswitch.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic deviceincludes a charge manager circuit between the switch and the systemload, the charge manager circuit coupled to the charging interface andconfigured to: select the charging interface or the battery for poweringthe system load; or charge the battery, via the switch, using electricpower from the charging interface.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein:the electronic device is a first assembly of a medical device, theelectronic device including mechanical features complementary tomechanical features of a second assembly of the medical device such thatthe electronic device is releasably engageable with the second assemblyof the medical device; the auxiliary device includes the mechanicalfeatures of the second assembly of the medical device such that theauxiliary device is releasably engageable with the electronic device;and the wireless control signal transmitter and the non-contact sensorare aligned when the electronic device and the auxiliary device areengaged.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary deviceincludes an output user interface configured to indicate status of theauxiliary device.
 13. A method comprising: enabling a wireless chargingtransmitter of an auxiliary device to transmit wireless power signals toan electronic device; receiving a user input at the auxiliary device;enabling, in response to the user input, a wireless control signaltransmitter of the auxiliary device to transmit a wireless controlsignal for shutting down the electronic device; receiving, by theelectronic device, the wireless control signal from the auxiliarydevice; opening, in response to receiving the wireless control signaland after a first time delay, a switch to disconnect a system load ofthe electronic device from a battery of the electronic device; disablingthe wireless charging transmitter after a second time delay; andperforming, by the auxiliary device based on the user input, signaling auser to remove the electronic device from the auxiliary device; orreenabling the wireless charging transmitter to transmit the wirelesspower signals to the electronic device to restart the electronic device.14. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless control signal includesa magnetic field signal, an infrared light signal, or a radio-frequencysignal.
 15. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining auser instruction based on a duration of the user input, an input devicethat receives the user input, or both the duration and the input device.16. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating, by a timercircuit after the first time delay, a control signal for opening theswitch.
 17. A system comprising: an auxiliary device comprising acharging transmitter configured to transmit electric power signals; andan electronic device comprising: a battery; a system load; a switch inan electrical connection path between the battery and the system load;an input user interface configured to receive a user input; a controlcircuit configured to control the switch in response to receiving theuser input; and a charging interface configured to receive the electricpower signals from the auxiliary device, wherein the control circuit ispowered through the charging interface rather than the battery, whereinthe electronic device is a first assembly of a medical device, theelectronic device including mechanical features complementary tomechanical features of a second assembly of the medical device such thatthe electronic device is releasably engageable with the second assemblyof the medical device; and wherein the auxiliary device includes themechanical features of the second assembly of the medical device suchthat the auxiliary device is releasably engageable with the electronicdevice.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein: the input user interfaceincludes two buttons; actuating a first one of the two buttons indicatesa first user instruction; and actuating a second one of the two buttonsor both of the two buttons indicates a second user instruction.
 19. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein: the control circuit includes two timercircuits; a first timer circuit of the two timer circuits is configuredto generate a first switch control signal to open the switch after afirst time delay; and a second timer circuit of the two timer circuitsis configured to generate a second switch control signal to close theswitch after a second time delay.
 20. The system of claim 17, whereinthe electronic device includes a charge manager circuit between theswitch and the system load, the charge manager circuit coupled to thecharging interface and configured to: select the charging interface orthe battery for powering the system load; or charge the battery, via theswitch, using electric power from the charging interface.